Sith of Naboo
by Booksaboutnothing
Summary: Following their defeat at Ruusan by the Jedi, a small group of Sith settle on Naboo and become a part of their culture. Now 1,000 years later the galaxy is falling into turmoil and Naboo is being dragged into it. With a new Queen with Sith heritage how will the Sith of Naboo fair in this war?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The Jedi had long thought that the Sith had been almost entirely wiped out at the Battle of Ruusan almost 1000 years ago. Since then the Sith had adopted a rule of two starting with Darth Bane, or at least that's what the Jedi thought. What they didn't know was a few remaining human Sith had fled and were living with a small colony on the planet Naboo, which joined the Galactic Republic shortly after.

The Sith on Naboo quietly existed, slowly entrenching themselves into Naboo society. They were very careful not to reveal themselves, the Jedi still greatly outnumbered them and discovery would have been ruinous. They knew that to get their revenge against the Jedi would take years, perhaps centuries to enact properly.

The Sith soon established themselves as the various noble houses on Naboo who supported the non-Sith human monarch. This continued until the native species of the planet called the Gungans started a war with the humans of Naboo. During the conflict the royal family was wiped out, leaving the Naboo without a leader. The citizens of Naboo called for the election of a monarch as the fairest way to determine the new leader. The Sith wanted to end the war with the Gungans quickly so they decided to go along with it, however they inserted clause into the constitution that was drafted to allow any house deemed worthy enough by the people to become the new hereditary rulers of Naboo. This continued for over a century. The war ended with the Gungans being driven to near extinction.

About seventy years into this a young boy powerful in the force was born to house Palpatine. He grew into an ambitious young man and he quickly vied for the position of King, but was soundly defeated in the election. The young man blamed his father for his defeat as his father had been openly critical of the platform his son had run under. The boy killed his father in lightsaber combat, becoming the head of house Palpatine in the process. However the other Sith families were not impressed and many called for his death as well. However the current King decided that his death would cause suspicion and may attract the Jedi, so he appointed Palpatine as the Senator for Naboo in the Galactic Senate and sent him away to Coruscant, figuring that he would either get himself killed or do something useful.

What Palpatine did however was becoming the apprentice to the current Lord of the rule of two line of Sith. He never revealed the Sith on Naboo to his master, but deep down he harboured a large grudge against them for setting him aside.

For years Palpatine worked as what appeared to be the typical bureaucratic Senator, his master was also the head of the largest bank in the Galaxy and sought to control the Galaxy through credits and trade. When he proposed using the droid armies of the Trade Federation to incite galactic strife so Palpatine could rise to power as Supreme Chancellor in the senate, Palpatine was only to eager to sell out his home planet. Palpatine arranged a deal with the current King, Ars Veruna, to build a plasma mining facility and a trade deal with the Trade Federation, which unknown to Veruna was heavily favoured in the Federations favour.

The Naboo soon realized that they had been cheated in the deal and many of the citizens and even other Sith family's blamed Veruna for the bad deal and they tried to break the contract with the Federation. Veruna realized that this could end up leading to war with the Trade Federation and he began building up Naboo's military forces, a move which upset the peace loving citizens and which caused the Trade Federation to setup a blockade around Naboo, severely limiting their trade with other planets. The other Sith families saw this as an opportunity to rid themselves of Veruna and place their own monarch on the throne. Veruna was forced to step down as King and was sent into exile to appease the citizen. Soon afterwards he was assassinated much to the surprise of the people and the Sith, but the Sith were not to bothered as it meant they did not have to fear his return.

In the meantime they had to hold an election to replace Veruna. The Tapalo family put forth Kyu Tapalo, a forty year old man, known amongst the Sith as Darth Gravid. The Neeyuntee family put forth Yram Neeyuntee, a fifty year old Sith Sorceress known as Darth Hadra. The Kylantha family put forth Jev Kylantha a thirty-five year old Sith warrior known as Darth Carnage. The Veruna family put forth Ars Veruna's son Ian Veruna, a young man who was only twenty-three and had yet to earn his Darth Title amongst the Sith.

But the standout nominee amongst the nominations was Padmé of house Naberrie, a young girl who was only fourteen years old, yet she had already earned the title of Darth Amidala. Many of the houses declined to nominate anyone and threw their support behind Padmé. The young Padmé was extremely powerful in the force which was somewhat surprising as house Naberrie was typically one of the weaker houses. Padmé wielded the force stronger and with more natural ease than anyone they had seen before, her skill was on par with the most powerful Sith who were three or four times her age.

The non-force sensitive public thought that Padmé's nomination was a joke at first, but after watching her win the debates opinion quickly swayed in her favour. Padmé came across as though she were a politician with decades of experience rather than the girl who was barely a teenager that she was. All of her opposition save for Ian Veruna withdrew and threw their support behind her.

When election day arrived Padmé was elected Queen in a landslide victory, her coronation resulted in a day of celebration on Naboo the likes of which hadn't been seen in decades. When she was crowned she took on the name Queen Amidala, a cocky use of her Sith name. That night Padmé was also given Ars Veruna's old spot on the Sith Council of Five Lords.

The next day she got to business dealing with the Trade Federation and their blockade, however the Trade Federation refused to talk and told her that the Jedi were sending a Master to serve as an arbitrator for this dispute in a hope to resolve in peacefully. The sound of that both pleased and worried Padmé if she should get the Jedi to decide in her favour it would look like she was able to bend even the Jedi to her will. But should the Jedi rule against her, or should the Jedi discover who she truly was things could go very badly. Padmé knew that the outcome would depend on her ability to impose her will on the Force.

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	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Queen Amidala and her council were in the throne room in the Palace of Theed. They had just spoken with Viceroy Nute Gunray about the blockade and Gunray had said that he wouldn't have done it if it were not approved by the Senate before ending communications. That had gotten the young Queen thinking, there was another Sith serving as the Senator for Naboo, the last member of House Palpatine. She wasn't sure how a Sith could have allowed for such an act to occur, unless he had turned his back on his planet and on the Sith. That was something that she would definitely question him about.

At that moment a hologram of Palpatine appeared and Sio Bibble began to ask him about what was going on in the Senate. Amidala had other questions for Palpatine but knew that it was dangerous to ask them in front of non-Sith like Bibble. Before Amidala had a chance to ask a question of her own the image became covered with static and then disappeared.

"They've begun jamming our communications," Bibble said. "The first sign of an invasion."

An Invasion would most definitely be an illegal course of action unless the Senate had allowed it, and if they had then Amidala knew for certain that Palpatine had sold them out.

"This blockade has gone on long enough," Queen Amidala said. "It appears we must take our case to the Senate directly."

"How do you propose to do that my Queen?" Bibble asked. "The Trade Federation has the planet surrounded; if you attempt to fly off planet you will be killed."

Amidala fought back her urge to kill Bibble for questioning her, he was right to an extant although Amidala was certain that she or most any other Sith would be able to slip the blockade if given a fast enough ship. But she couldn't afford to reveal herself, not when the Trade Federation was likely watching her every move.

"You are right Governor, if we are to be invaded we must be prepare to surrender," Amidala said. "I don't want any of my people dying needlessly. However I do not intend to surrender."

"What are you going to do?" Bibble asked.

"My handmaidens and I will hide and find a way off planet and get to Coruscant to tell them of our plight," Amidala replied.

Bibble nodded. "I understand, I will remain here then."

Padmé motioned ever so slightly at her handmaidens and they followed her out of the throne room to Amidala's own personal apartment. Once in her apartment they helped Amidala out of the large cumbersome dress she was expected to wear as Queen. That was one thing Amidala intended to change, she detested wearing those ridiculous outfits all the time. She could tolerate it for special occasions and public appearances but all the time was pain.

"Why didn't you threaten the Trade Federation with destruction if they invade us Padmé?" asked Yané, her youngest handmaiden.

Amidala raised her hand and force choked her handmaiden, "You are only to ever call me that in public, in private you are to use Master, Lady or Darth Amidala. Do you understand?"

Amidala released the force choke and her handmaiden fell to the ground gasping for breath.

"Yes Master," Yané replied breathlessly.

The Queen's handmaidens were not just girls who attended to her, but they were also fellow Sith who served as extra protection although all of them were still apprentices and Amidala was their Master.

"So what are we to do Master?" asked Eirtaé another of Amidala's handmaidens and apprentices.

Amidala looked at her apprentice while considering. Eirtaé was different in appearance from the rest, while the others had brown hair and eyes similar to Amidala, Eirtaé had blonde hair and blue eyes and pale alabaster skin and was actually a few years older than Amidala. At first Eirtaé had seemed to be insolent but Amidala soon came to understand her and thought that she perhaps had the most potential of her five handmaidens.

"First I must discuss with the other Sith Lords our course of action," Amidala replied. "No Sith would tolerate an invasion, especially one by these pathetic Neimoidians. But we're not revealing ourselves as Sith, we are the peaceful people of Naboo and we are going to quietly allow this occupation. I need to make sure the other Lords know that they need to supress any attempts at forming a resistance."

By now Amidala was out of the heavy and uncomfortable dress. Her handmaidens began wiping off the makeup she was forced to don each day, that was something else Amidala considered changing but the makeup was more tolerable than the clothing.

"I think perhaps we may have a problem controlling house Veruna, Master," said her Handmaiden Sabé.

Sabé was, along with Eirtaé, her best apprentices. But while Eirtaé had more strength with the force, Sabé was more knowledgeable, not just about the force but in general and all of this in spite of being younger than Eirtaé.

"Why do you say that?" Amidala asked, even though she knew the answer well herself.

"It's quite evident that House Veruna has rogue intentions," Sabé replied. "And they are definitely upset over the death of the previous King. I have heard rumours that they hold you personally responsible."

Amidala smiled at her apprentice, "I have heard the rumours myself. While I would have happily killed Ars Veruna myself I was on planet running to be elected Queen. No if somebody killed Veruna my guess was that it was Palpatine."

"Palpatine?" asked her handmaiden Rabé. "Why would he want Veruna dead?"

Rabé was perhaps the best lightsaber combatant of Amidala's handmaidens, but lacked in all other areas.

"I don't know why Palpatine does anything," Amidala replied. "He has had less and less accountability to Naboo in the past few years and I think he has become our enemy. This deal with the Trade Federation was his idea in the first place, and look at what it has caused. Palpatine is working to achieve his own ends, do not doubt it."

"Perhaps he is looking to gain control over the Senate," said Saché.

Amidala looked at her. Saché was her oldest apprentice at nineteen years old and she was also the wisest. While not particularly strong in the Force Saché had a gift for foresight. Occasionally she would have prophetic visions, which was one of the reasons Amidala had chosen her as an apprentice and handmaiden.

"Are you saying this from one of your visions?" Amidala asked.

"No," Saché replied. "But if he can cause his home planet to be invaded without seeming to be involved it would definitely generate sympathy for him within the Senate and it could also make the Supreme Chancellor look bad at the same time."

"A ploy to become Supreme Chancellor? That's definitely not good for Naboo or the Sith," Amidala commented.

"This could also be his attempt to get revenge for his exile to Coruscant," said Eirtaé.

"Either way Palpatine is definitely involved in this," Sabé agreed.

Amidala slipped into the heavy black robe she had earned upon becoming a Sith Lord.

"I need to speak with the Sith Council about this," Amidala said. "Sabé you are to be my double until I return."

The rest of the handmaidens got started dressing Sabé up in the heavy dress that Amidala had just got out of. Amidala took a secret passage in her room down through several corridors to the speeder bay. The speeder bay was currently unoccupied as all the mechanics had the day off to recover from the coronation celebration, not that anybody being present would have been much of a problem. Amidala hopped on a speeder bike and set out to Dee'ja Peak the remote mountainous town where the Sith Lords held their council.

Once word of her arrival in Dee'ja Peak became known the Sith Lords quickly gathered. News of the invasion had already spread, in fact reports were coming in that the Trade Federation were landing their droid armies in the swamp areas outside the major cities.

Amidala arrived at the Hall of Lords where the Sith Lords held council. The room was a simple circular room with five large black throne-like chairs space equal distances apart in a circle. A large Sith Holocron sat on a pedestal in the middle of the circle. The other four Sith Lords, Lord Marr, Lady Jaga, Lord Vilus and Lord Arctis, were all present already.

"Thank you for coming on short notice," Amidala said as she took her seat.

"You were elected because you said you could end this problem with the Trade Federation," Lord Marr said. "It seem like it's only been escalated."

Amidala looked over at Lord Marr. He was the most senior member of the council, he looked as though he were almost one hundred years old although in truth he was just over seventy.

"Well it appears as though that was never going to be possible," Amidala said. "It would seem that Senator Palpatine has set this all up."

"Do you have any proof of this accusation?" Lord Vilus asked.

Vilus was the second youngest member of the council but he was still forty five years old. His slick black hair was starting to turn grey at the roots giving him a rather distinguished look.

"He is a Sith, he wouldn't leave proof," Amidala said. "But the circumstances all make sense, especially if Palpatine is vying for the position of Supreme Chancellor."

"He would never do that, it would expose us all," Lady Jaga said.

The other female member of the council was a large fat woman; many called her 'Lady Jabba' after the Hutt gangster, but only behind her back.

"Palpatine has been more or less exiled for decades now," said Lord Arctis. "It would make sense that he would not hold his allegiance to his people in high regard after that long."

Lord Arctis was white hair man sixty years of age with cold ice blue eyes.

"My guess is that his plan is to use this invasion to either expose us or wipe us out," Amidala said. "And in the meantime he is able to establish himself as the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic."

"That does sound very Sith-like," Lord Marr admitted. "If this is true it cannot be permitted."

"No, Palpatine has gotten out of control as Senator he will need to be replaced," Lady Jaga agreed.

"First though we must deal with this invasion," Lord Vilus reminded them.

"We cannot come into conflict with the Trade Federation," Amidala said. "We should attempt to surrender peacefully for now. I will travel to Coruscant and deal with Palpatine myself and present our case before the Senate."

"You take a lot of responsibility in doing this," Lord Marr commented.

"I am the Queen," Amidala responded with a thin smile. "I live to serve my people. But we have one other possible concern. House Veruna has been rather… rebellious of late and I fear they may do something that could possibly expose us. Especially since two Jedi are apparently travelling here as arbitrators. I trust that you will be able to keep them under control."

"My house and I will personally ensure there obedience," Lord Arctis said.

Lord Arctis was Horace Shif, the head of House Shif, his non-Sith wife served as Amidala's Education Minister on the Royal Advisory Council and she was the only member of council who knew about Amidala's Sith heritage. Amidala knew that Arctis was loyal and would support her because he cared about his wife, and that was his weak spot. He knew as well as Amidala did that if he displeased her that she could have his wife killed at moment's notice. Amidala was glad of the fortunate situation because it meant she had at least one support on the council, and she knew that Lord Arctis would make good on his promise to control House Veruna. His sons were both skilled Sith Warriors.

With their business concluded the members of the Sith Council left to return to their lives as citizens of Naboo. Amidala returned to Theed sneaking back into the palace. When she arrived in the speeder bay she was met by Eirtaé.

"Master, we've gotten word that the Jedi sent to negotiate escaped an assassination attempt and are now planet side," Eirtaé informed her. "They're likely going to be making their way here."

Amidala smiled, "And they are going to want to get the Queen off planet to bring her before the Senate. This is perfect. The Jedi will be able to get us off planet and we won't have to risk exposure. We'll just pretend to be scared girls until the Jedi arrive."

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	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The Jedi arrived in Theed and rescued Amidala and her handmaidens Eirtaé, Sabé and Rabé, while they were being escorted by a group of droids to meet with Viceroy Nute Gunray. Amidala was posing as one of her own handmaidens while Sabé continued to pose as her. The two Jedi easily destroyed the droids.

Amidala noticed that they had a Gungan with them. She wasn't sure why, the Gungan seemed to be a total klutz and seemed to be more of a liability that anything else. She wondered if perhaps the Jedi were taking pity on the creature. Amidala knew she wouldn't have, she would have killed it. The Sith routinely kidnapped lone Gungans to use as subjects for their force training and she had killed dozens of Gungans during her own training. Amidala thought that perhaps she could use the Gungan to train her Handmaidens once they reached Coruscant, assuming that the Gungan didn't get himself killed along the way.

They then fled to the Royal Hanger where the Royal Starship was awaiting, mostly prepped for launch. They all boarded the ship which took off. The Trade Federation attempted to shoot them down but were unsuccessful, they then tried to intercept the ship in orbit, and they succeeded in damaging the main hyperdrive. Using the backup hyperdrive they were able to make a short jump to the remote system of Tatooine where they landed to make repairs. A jump to Coruscant was out of the question as it would take several years on the backup hyperdrive and the ship would run out of power and the occupants would die before their journey would complete.

Once they were planet side the Jedi Master, a tall human with long dark hair and a short beard named Qui-Gon Jinn decided that he would go to get the parts they needed to repair the ship, while his apprentice would stay with the ship. The apprentice was surprisingly old being close to twenty-five, with his light brown hair kept short except for a single thin braid. His name was Obi-wan Kenobi and Amidala could tell that he felt he should be a full Jedi Knight by now.

Amidala who was still posing as the Handmaiden Padmé decided that she would travel with Qui-Gon to explore this new planet. However she was going not just for the opportunity to explore. She wanted to study a Jedi in person and see how he worked and if possible and necessary to kill him herself. Sabé who was still posing as Queen told Qui-Gon that he was going to take one of her Handmaidens with him.

Before she left Amidala gave her final orders to her Handmaidens, she had a special assignment for Eirtaé since she was the oldest.

"I want you to keep an eye on his apprentice," Amidala said. "Eirtaé, he may have vulnerabilities to certain… charms shall we say? Learn whatever you can from him about the Jedi, and if you can sway his allegiance to the dark side without revealing yourself you may find yourself well on your way to earning your Sith name."

Eirtaé beamed with excitement at the thought, "I will do so Master," she said.

Amidala then left to join Master Qui-Gon Jinn. The ship had set down just outside of a nearby spaceport so as not to attract much attention from locals. Qui-Gon had decided to take one of the astromech droids with them as well as the droid would know better than either of them if the parts they needed were good or not. To annoy Amidala further the Gungan had also decided to come across.

It took them about an hour to reach the spaceport due to them having to slow their pace so that the astromech droid could keep up.

"Why couldn't we just take the ships speeder?" Amidala asked the Jedi as she wiped sand out of her eyes.

"Mos Espa is a lawless place. We're in Hutt Territory here, and odds are it would just end up being stripped for parts or stolen. We're better off walking." Qui-Gon replied.

Amidala was somewhat fascinated with all the other life forms she encountered. She had only ever left Naboo to visit one of its three moons, and very few of the Sith from Naboo ever travelled the galaxy for fear of leading the Jedi back to Naboo so they were not overly familiar with other life forms or with other languages outside of Galactic Basic. And while Naboo was a very scenic planet they didn't promote themselves as a tourist destination, mostly because the Sith were very wary of detection which limited the number of offworlders visiting Naboo.

They went through the town visiting several shops and repair places, but none of them had the parts that they were looking for. Finally they came to a junkyard which was all the way on the other side of the spaceport. It had an odd bell-shaped building in front and sand coloured wall housed the area with all the parts in the back. From what Amidala could see poking out over the wall the parts were all covered with sand.

"I don't think anything we get here will work," Amidala said to Qui-Gon.

"Sand is just a minor inconvenience," Qui-Gon told her. "Some of these parts are perfectly fine except for a little sand."

Amidala had her doubts but decided not to voice them, she didn't want to risk revealing herself as the Queen, let alone as a Sith. She followed Qui-Gon and the droid into the shop. Inside they were met by a small ugly looking creature which was somehow able to fly with a pair of small wings.

"Hey what do you want?" the creature asked in an attempt to be friendly, although it came across as rude.

"I'm looking for a T-14 hyperdrive generator for a J-type 327 Nubian class space craft," Qui-Gon informed the alien.

"Oh Nubian eh? Well it just so happens I have just the part you're looking for," the creature said.

"Then perhaps we can do business," Qui-Gon said.

"I don't do business with people who don't tell me their name," the creature said.

Amidala would have been annoyed by that remark, and probably would have force choked the ugly little creature but Qui-Gon just smiled.

"I am Qui-Gon," he said. "And as I have given you my name, I believe courtesy dictates you should give me yours."

"I'm Watto and this is my shop," the creature replied.

"Meesa Jar Jar Binks!" the Gungan volunteered.

Amidala, Qui-Gon and Watto all gave the Gungan a brief look of annoyance and then ignored him.

"Well if you don't mind my droid and I would like to take a look at the part first, just to be sure it's in working condition." Qui-Gon said.

"Oh by all means," Watto said. "Follow me."

Watto led Qui-Gon and the droid out around back to look at the part, leaving Amidala with Jar Jar to explore the store. She wandered around looking at the various parts for a while before she finally noticed a young boy sitting on the counter watching her. She was surprised that she hadn't sensed his presence beforehand but as she probed with the force she realized that he had been hiding his presence in the force. She doubted that the boy had any training whatsoever, which could only mean that he was strong in the force. She dared not say anything about it though lest she give herself away to Qui-Gon. While she felt she could kill the Jedi it would only make getting off of this hellhole of a planet that much more difficult.

"Are you an angel?" the boy asked her.

Amidala was confused by the question, "Am I a what?"

"An angel," the boy replied. "The spacer tell stories about them down at the Cantina. They say they're the most beautiful creatures in the galaxy."

Amidala was somewhat flattered by the boy's compliment, however naïve it may be.

"Well thank you, but I'm not actually an angel," Amidala said.

"She's a handmaiden," Jar Jar stated.

Amidala glared over at the Gungan once again and noticed he was standing near a device that she was pretty sure was a water vaporator, which were used on Tatooine to extract moisture from the air to use as water which was extremely scarce on this planet. They were large and heavy pieces of equipment. Amidala gave the Gungan a small shove with the force and he suddenly stumbled backwards into the vaporator. The vaporator wobble on its base and Amidala gave a slight pull with the force and the vaporator toppled over onto the Gungan. The Gungan squealed in pain as he was crushed by the vaporator. The noise brought Watto and Qui-Gon back into the shop and they worked together to roll the heavy vaporator off of the Gungan, but the Gungan was badly injured.

"I'll get one of the other handmaidens to come take him back to the ship. The medical droid is equipped to take care of his species," Amidala said.

Qui-Gon nodded and she called the ship and asked Rabé and Eirtaé to come in the speeder and pick up the Gungan. About fifteen minutes later they arrived in the speeder along with Obi-Wan. While Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon helped put the Gungan into the speeder Amidala took the two handmaidens aside.

"Rabé I want the Gungan to be dead before I return to the ship," Amidala whispered.

"It will be my pleasure Master, I hate those disgusting creatures," Rabé replied.

"Eirtaé how goes things with Obi-Wan?" Amidala inquired.

"He's very committed to his code," Eirtaé said. "He definitely has interest but getting him to break his vows is going to be difficult."

"Well keep trying," Amidala said. "He will eventually break."

By now the Jedi had gotten the Gungan loaded into the speeder. Rabé and Eirtaé got back in the speeder with Obi-Wan and they headed back to the ship.

"What happened in there?" Qui-Gon asked almost as soon as the speeder was gone.

"He was looking around and he accidently bumped into the vaporator and it fell over onto him," Amidala replied. "I mean I knew he was clumsy but this took it to another level."

Qui-Gon looked at the boy who just shrugged and nodded, he wasn't entirely sure what had happened but to him it looked like the Gungan accidently knocked the big machine over onto himself.

Watto meanwhile was eager to get back to business, he had ensured that the vaporator was still working.

"So you saw the part, it is good how do you intend to pay?" Watto inquired.

"I've got 20,000 credits," Qui-Gon replied.

"Your credits are no good here," Watto said. "This isn't Republic space."

Amidala could sense a tinge of frustration from Qui-Gon.

"Credits will be fine," Qui-Gon said waving his hand as he tried to use a Force Suggestion on Watto.

"What do you think you are some kind of Jedi waving your hand like that?" Watto asked angrily. "Jedi mind tricks don't work on Toydarians. Now how are you going to pay?"

Amidala kept her emotions in check, but she was somewhat pleased that Jedi had failed. Amidala herself would have been a lot more forceful with her suggestion than Qui-Gon had been, but he clearly felt he had some sort of ethics to hold on to. She noted that as a possible weakness to exploit if necessary.

"I only have credits," Qui-Gon replied. "Take them or leave them."

"No Credits," Watto said. "Get out of my shop."

Qui-Gon and Amidala left the shop where the astromech droid was waiting for them. As they headed back through town towards the ship they noticed all the people were all taking cover inside. Amidala wasn't sure if this was some sort of daily ritual she didn't know about.

"What's going on?" she asked Qui-Gon.

"A Sandstorm is coming," Qui-Gon replied. "We won't be able to make it back to the ship in time, we need to find shelter."

"You can wait the storm out at my place," someone said behind them.

They turned around to see the young boy from the shop. They learned that the boy's name was Anakin. There were no other options so they followed the boy back to the simple home that he shared with his mother. His mother graciously welcomed them into their home although Amidala got the sense that she wasn't overly thrilled with her son volunteering their home to strangers, at least without asking her first.

Amidala let the boy show her around the house pretending to be interested in his things, like the almost complete protocol droid that he had built from parts himself to help his mother around the house. Meanwhile Qui-Gon was talking with Anakin's mother Shmi and Amidala could sense a bit of excitement from Qui-Gon about something.

That night they sat down to have dinner, the sand storm could still be heard howling outside. Qui-Gon told them about what they were doing and how they needed the parts to get to Coruscant to inform the Senate about the Invasion of Naboo by the Trade Federation. Anakin said that he would enter and win the Boonta Eve Classic Pod Race and use the prize money to get them their parts. Amidala was surprised and a little disgusted that this boy was so openly generous. If she were in his position she would never offer help to anyone.

That night Qui-Gon was tending to a few small cuts that Anakin had gotten. Amidala noticed that Qui-Gon had taken a small blood sample and new something was up. Obviously Qui-Gon could sense this boy's force potential. When the storm had finally cleared Qui-Gon went outside to communicate back with the ship. Amidala quietly sat at the window and listened in on his conversation with his apprentice. While listening in she heard Qui-Gon suggest that this boy may be the Chosen One, sent to bring balance to the Force. She then heard Obi-Wan report to Qui-Gon that the boy seemed to be more powerful than Yoda, considered the strongest Jedi in the Galaxy today.

Amidala was concerned. Qui-Gon clearly wanted to train this boy to be a Jedi, and she had already seen firsthand his nature which was entirely un-Sith like. And then there was the prophecy about bring balance, that could mean any number of things. It could mean that he would bring about some sort of mix of dark side and light side. Or worse it could mean that he would eliminate all the Sith and other dark side users in the Galaxy. Of course it could also mean he would send the galaxy plummeting into darkness, but Amidala doubted that. Turning him would prove difficult and she felt that she could do that herself.

After rationalizing it in her mind repeatedly, Amidala decided that the boy needed to die. If he died then the prophecy wouldn't come to pass which would guarantee her success in bring the Sith back to power in the Galaxy. Now the problem was how to kill him without the Jedi being suspicious.

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	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The next day Qui-Gon went to visit Watto again, this time with a new proposal. Qui-Gon said he would bet Watto that Anakin would win the Boonta Eve Classic and that if he wins Watto would give him the parts he needed and the boy and his mother. Watto wanted to know what Qui-Gon would be wagering in return. Qui-Gon said that he would be wagering the ship. Watto said he would give the hyperdrive and one of his slaves, but not both if Qui-Gon won. He then rolled a cube with three sides red and three sides blue. If it was blue it was the boy and if it was red it was his mother. Amidala knew right away that the cube was weight to come up red. The boy was definitely the more useful slave, he was able to fix up all the junk that Watto collected. However as the cube was rolled Amidala noticed Qui-Gon give it a tiny push with the force to make sure it came up blue. Watto was clearly surprised and a bit angry with the result but agreed none the less.

Amidala was indignant; there was no way that this Jedi should be wagering something that isn't his. But when she voiced her objection Qui-Gon told her that if they lose the ship is completely worthless anyway. Amidala would have wagered the astromech droid and other things on the ship rather than the entire ship itself, but unfortunately it wasn't her place to say anything unless she wanted to blow her cover so she kept her mouth shut.

To make matters worse it also put an end to her first idea to get rid of the boy. She had originally thought that perhaps if he were to have an accident in the pod race it would be easy to blame on the nature of the sport, or on sabotage from just about any of the other competitors which would never be investigated.

Anakin had been building his own pod racer out of parts from Watto's junkyard. But as yet it wasn't working; with the help of the Astromech droid though he was able to get his pod racer up and running in time for the big race.

The day of the Boonta Eve Classic arrived and there were people arriving at Mos Espa from all across Tatooine. Amidala found it a little odd how a race called 'Eve' was raised at midday, but then again this planet had two suns so some days the sun never set, although this didn't appear to be one of those days. And none of the citizens she asked knew about a holiday called Boonta so she had no idea where the name came from. She decided that it wasn't worth worrying about, however ridiculous it may be and decided to just see how this race played out. She felt that the boy, Anakin, would win the race. As much as she disliked Qui-Gon Jinn she could not ignore his strength with the force and he wouldn't have made this wager if he wasn't sure he would win.

The race began rather unfavourably as the boy's pod racer immediately stalled. Amidala almost laughed aloud that the Jedi was going to be wrong because of something as simple as another racer trying to sabotage the kid, but then he was able to get his pod racer started and he took off chasing after the field. A second driver had failed to start as well and his pod burst apart the engines flying in all directions, the engines exploding as they slammed into things.

There were monitors setup near the stands and Amidala and the rest of the crowd watched the action. A Dug named Sebulba got to the early lead as he took out two other racers. Anakin was able to work his way back into the race, sitting in sixth place as they started the second lap. One racer took a pit stop and unfortunately a pit droid got sucked into the massive engine and it sputtered and failed.

Anakin was definitely a very talented racer, but Amidala found that she liked the Dug Sebulba more. She enjoyed his win by any means necessary attitude and silently wished that Qui-Gon had bet on the Dug.

In the second lap two more racers crashed but Anakin was able to work his way all the way up to the front and he was now racing side by side with Sebulba as the third lap began. They swapped first and second a few times through the lap and they were side by side as they came down the final long straight back to the grandstands. Their cockpits got entangled and Anakin boosted to break free. The manoeuvre caused Sebulba's power couplings to fail and his engines flew off in separate directions and his pod crashed just before the finish line allowing Anakin to win. The stands went crazy cheering for the upset victory and Anakin himself was elated.

After the race, Qui-Gon completed his transaction with Watto getting the hyperdrive parts as well as the boy. Amidala was back at the ship already while Qui-Gon was getting the boy from his mother. Rabé informed Amidala that the Gungan had experienced sudden heart failure and died as a result of his injuries. Amidala knew that wasn't what happened but pretended to be upset for appearances sake. As the boy and Qui-Gon were walking back Amidala was waiting with Rabé and Eirtaé at the boarding ramp when they saw a swoop bike come barrelling after the two. The boy was lagging behind Qui-Gon and Amidala saw him drop to the ground just moments before the bike would have run him over. The rider leapt off of the bike and began attacking Qui-Gon with a red bladed lightsaber. The boy got up and ran to the ship while Qui-Gon and the rider continued to battle.

Amidala was confused, this stranger was clearly a Sith but not one of the Sith of Naboo. She could tell Eirtaé and Rabé were confused as well, and somewhat anxious to join the fight. The unknown Sith had his hood slip off revealing his face which was tattooed red and black and he had two rows of small horns on his head. Amidala wasn't sure exactly what species he was at first but she immediately recognized the tattoos as being of Sith origin, in fact the tattoos were something she recalled from Sith History and she had painted similar designs on her face for special Sith ceremonies. She then recalled the other Sith's race, he was a Zabrak. Seeing this Sith only further confirmed her belief that Palpatine had betrayed them and was up to something. Only a Sith would recognize another Sith's plot. Palpatine was sending his apprentice because it would make it seem as if a Sith were supporting the Trade Federation, which would likely give him more support in the Senate and also because it would avert any Jedi suspicion towards himself. And also Palpatine likely knew that it would take another Sith to kill Amidala and her handmaidens, but she would let the Jedi fight him, and hopefully kill him, first.

The boy Anakin reached the ship and was telling Amidala that Qui-Gon said they needed to take off. Obi-Wan ran to the cockpit and had the pilots start the ship up. Meanwhile the battle raged on between the Zabrak Sith and Qui-Gon. The two were trading blows at a furious pace, but Qui-Gon was clearly being beaten back. The ship took off and flew low towards the battle with the landing ramp still extended. Qui-Gon took advantage of the dust flying up to use the force to leap up on to the ramp as the ship sped away as the Zabrak watched.

Amidala stood on the ramp next to Qui-Gon staring at the Zabrak. She could feel his rage boiling off him, clearly angry that his chance to kill a Jedi had been lost. As she made her way into the ship she noticed how weary Qui-Gon was after that brief battle. She didn't think he would be very difficult to defeat if it came down to combat.

The ship reached space and set course for Coruscant. Amidala was eager to be off but things were more complicated. The boy was a serious threat to the dream of Sith Empire expanding the galaxy, and it was going to be difficult to kill him and not raise suspicion. Her handmaidens thought that perhaps they should try and turn him. Amidala was tempted by that thought, but it was just too risky, especially since he had gotten rather close with Qui-Gon. Whatever the case, this wasn't the time to do anything about it. She switched places with Sabé once again becoming the Queen as they headed to Coruscant.

Shorter chapter here, it's really a transition to the part I really looked forward to writing in the next chapter when Amidala reaches Coruscant and confronts Palpatine. Please read and review.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Palpatine was out there to greet them as the ship landed at Coruscant. Amidala knew it wasn't just for appearances, but that Palpatine would be trying to size her up. She was a threat that he needed to get rid of as soon as possible. She would play along, and she would let him underestimate her.

Amidala walked down the ramp of the Starship flanked by Eirtaé and Rabé. Sabé remained on the ship and would join them a little later to better hide the deception of the switched handmaidens. There was only thing she did like about the large dresses of the queen and that was that she could easily conceal her lightsabers. Palpatine was standing just at the edge of the landing pad, a fake look of relief on his face. Amidala tugged at the folds of her dress where her weapons were concealed. She was sorely tempted to use it to cut that look off of his face.

"I am so relieved to see you are well you majesty," Palpatine said.

"Thank you Senator," Amidala responded.

Out of the corner of her eye Amidala watched Qui-Gon leave in another direction, however he left Obi-wan to escort Amidala and her handmaidens in case there was another assassination attempt.

"The situation in the Senate is worse than you could imagine," Palpatine said. "The Supreme Chancellor is powerless against the arguments put forth by the Senator from the Trade Federation."

"It sounds as if democracy has been bought," Amidala said.

"It would appear it has been," Palpatine agreed, a sad look on his face. "I have doubts that pleading your case before the Senate will help."

"I'm sure that the Senate will be interested to know that the Trade Federation appears to be in league with the Sith as Jedi Obi-Wan here would be willing to attest to," Amidala said.

Palpatine glanced back at the Jedi who was following the Queen and her handmaidens.

"It would appear as if the Jedi's ancient enemy has returned," Amidala said. "And they are targeting myself; likely because they don't want me to expose the Trade Federation's crimes to the Senate."

Amidala watched a flicker of worry travel across Palpatine's face; it soon vanished but that small flicker was all she needed to know that she had gotten into his head. But she doubted that he knew just exactly what she had planned to deal with the traitorous Senator.

The party arrived at the Nubian section of the Republic Executive Building where Palpatine and his staff resided. It also contained an apartment for the monarch of Naboo to stay at should they ever choose to visit Coruscant. Amidala had her handmaidens prepare the apartment, while Obi-Wan continued to hover and stand guard.

"I believe we are safe here," Amidala said to him. "Thank you for your continued concern, but I think your master would like you to return to the temple now."

She watched as Obi-Wan made eye contact with Eirtaé before nodding. He suddenly realized that Amidala had seen it and got slightly flustered.

"Yes, yes you're right," he muttered in agreement.

He quickly hurried out of the apartment, suddenly anxious to be gone.

"It would appear you've gotten your claws in him Eirtaé," Amidala commented to her handmaiden.

"Not as deeply as I would like," Eirtaé responded.

"Still it is progress," Amidala said. "And you're doing better than I had anticipated."

"Thank you master," Eirtaé said.

"What are you going to do about Palpatine my Lady," Rabé asked.

Amidala sat down in one of the chairs and sighed.

"He's a threat," Amidala said, "Not just to myself but to all the Sith on Naboo. We need to eliminate him from the picture immediately."

"But won't that raise suspicion?" Sabé asked.

"Palpatine has overplayed his hand already." Amidala said. "When he sent that Iridonian after us on Tatooine he made it look like the Sith were against us, so if it were to look like a Sith assassinated Palpatine…"

"They would think it was that Sith from Tatooine," Eirtaé finished for her.

"But Palpatine is a trained Sith, it will be hard to catch him off guard," Rabé said.

"Palpatine is overconfident," Amidala explained. "I can tell when he looks at me that he thinks I'm just a little girl playing at politics. But he might be a bit more wary after our brief exchange on the way over here, still I doubt he thinks very much of any of you, even though you are all skilled assassins."

"Do you want us to kill him?" Sabé asked.

"I don't just want it to happen, I need it," Amidala said. "If a Sith were to attack Palpatine but not me while I was with him that would be very suspicious."

"So what do you propose?" Eirtaé asked.

"Tomorrow I will be addressing the Senate around midday," Amidala said. "We need to find out Palpatine's schedule for tomorrow and we need to kill him when he is alone before that. Sabé and Rabé I want you to break into his office tonight and find his schedule for tomorrow."

"What about me master?" Eirtaé asked.

"I want you to go meet up with your Jedi," Amidala said. "If we can have him show up after the assassin has 'mysteriously vanished' his examination of the body should help confirm that it was a Sith that killed him."

Eirtaé nodded in agreement.

Later than night, Amidala was alone in her apartment. Rabé and Sabé had sliced into the security cameras for Palpatine's office, which was located just two levels above Amidala's apartment, and put it on a loop showing no activity. Amidala was watching the hijacked feed as well as the feed from several cameras outside of the office just in case anyone else tried to enter the office. Eirtaé was away, Obi-Wan apparently was giving her a tour of Coruscant.

As Amidala watched on the split screen monitors in her apartment, Sabé and Rabé began searching through Palpatine's office. They were looking for his schedule for the next day, but they were also trying to find any Sith items he might have in the apartment as they might have the misfortune of leading evidence back to Naboo and to the Sith there.

As they were rooting through the office Amidala noticed something on the monitors outside the office. It just seemed to be a shadowy blur, but Amidala knew what it was. A force user was masking their presence from the cameras. Amidala didn't know if it was Palpatine or perhaps his Iridonian apprentice, or maybe even a Jedi, but somebody was about to catch Sabé and Rabé by surprise. Amidala snatched up her lightsaber and ran to the apartment balcony. She force leapt up the two stories to Palpatine's office with ease and rolled through the open window.

"Hide!" she hissed to Sabé and Rabé who were surprised by her sudden entrance.

The both quickly ran to hide, Amidala herself slid for cover behind the desk and moments later the office door swung open. Amidala could feel the anger of whomever it was that was at the door and knew that it had to be either Palpatine or his apprentice. She could feel them probing with the force trying to find the intruders.

Amidala grasped her main lightsaber and her shoto, but didn't activate them yet. She glanced over at Sabé who had her light-tonfas at the ready. Sabé looked at Amidala for a sign on when to attack, but Amidala motioned for her to wait for now. She then looked around to try and find Rabé but couldn't see her other apprentice. As she looked back towards Sabé she heard the sound of a lightsaber being activated. At this point it didn't matter if it was Rabé activating her own blade or which Sith it was activating there's. Amidala sprang up and over the desk activating both her blades as she leapt.

The Sith was swing his blade towards Rabé's hiding spot on the opposite side of the room. Amidala caught the blade with her shoto and swung with her main blade for the kill but the Sith pushed with the force sending her stumbling back.

Amidala's two handmaidens rushed to her side, Sabé with her two light-tonfas activated and Rabé with her curved hilt lightsaber.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this," Palpatine said as he pulled the hood back from his cloak. "You're just an impetuous little girl, you all are."

"You have openly acted against your own people," Amidala said. "I have no choice but to kill you Palpatine."

"You think that you three little girls will be able to stop me? I am the Lord of the true Sith, the line of Bane. The line that will eventual rule the galaxy!" Palpatine declared.

Amidala was amazed by his over confidence in his power. Slowly Sabé and Rabé were stepping away from her two try and form a circle around Palpatine, they moved very slowly and were careful to keep their distance. Amidala knew she could distract him if she kept insulting him.

"Your delusions of grandeur are pathetic, you're not even a true Sith." Amidala taunted.

"I am Darth Sidious, and I am more of a Sith than you are, girl," Palpatine sneered.

Amidala was unimpressed, "Did you give yourself that name? I was able to become a member of the Council of Sith Lords by my fourteenth birthday. Compared to me you are nothing."

"Yes I heard about that, I must say the standards for what qualify as a Sith have clearly fallen." Palpatine retorted.

"If you don't think I'm worthy of being Darth Amidala, Lady of the Sith, then take that title from me with your blade," Amidala dared him.

Amidala wanted Palpatine to come after her. Amongst the many reasons that she had become the youngest Sith Lord, in the history of Naboo at least, was because of her talent at lightsaber combat. All of her handmaidens were highly skilled as well, but she wasn't entirely sure about Palpatine's abilities and she wasn't about to underestimate him. Plus she had just done all that work to get his focus on her which should leave him less focused on her handmaidens and hopefully one of them could easily get the kill.

Palpatine lunged at her his blade whirling, and she had to focus strongly in the force to determine just where the strike would come from. She caught his blade with both of her and tried to hold it. Sabé came leaping in for a kill strike but Palpatine turned and released a blast of Force Lightning at Sabé. Sabé used the force to knock herself to the ground as the blast crackled through the air over top of her. Rabé came in almost simultaneously but Palpatine slammed her with a shove of the force knocking her backwards. Amidala brought her boot up with a force assisted kick sent Palpatine flipping backwards across the room where he fell sprawling to the ground.

With casual ease Amidala used the force to get Sabé and Rabé to their feet. Sabé attached her two Light-tonfas together to form a double-bladed lightsaber that had to perpendicular handholds. The three of them then all charged Palpatine who swung his blade in a wide arc to try and give himself some space. However Rabé caught his blade with her and deflected it away leaving Palpatine exposed. Amidala sprang for the strike but Palpatine responded with a blast of Force Lightning. She caught the blast with her blades blocking it while Rabé continued to distract him. Sabé then stepped off of Amidala's shoulder leaping over her and she swung her blade towards Palpatine's head.

Palpatine attempted to spin away from Rabé to block Sabé's attack but he was too slow. Sabé's blade cleaved through Palpatine at the neck. The three women all stood and watched as a small smile crept onto Palpatine's face right before his head tumbled from his body to the ground. His body remained standing for almost a minute where it was before it suddenly burst apart in a blast of dark side energy.

All of them ducked thinking that this was some form of final revenge attack but then they realized that this was pure dark side energy. They all tried to harness that energy before it dissipated. Afterwards all that remained was Palpatine's head.

"That was strange," Rabé commented. "But I feel… stronger."

"As do I," Sabé agreed.

Amidala felt different as well, as though her connection to the dark side had somehow become even stronger. But her increase in power seemed insignificant to her, she was more concerned about non-Force related things at the moment. She bent down and picked up Palpatine's head by the hair.

"We have a bit of a problem," Amidala said holding up Palpatine's head. "We wanted him dead, needed him dead and he is. But unfortunately we don't have a body; all we have is a head. And that most definitely will lead to questions."

"Could the Senator just go missing?" Rabé suggested.

"It would appear that's what will have to happen," Amidala said. "But I want to take the head back to Naboo; the council may want proof of Palpatine's death."

"He was powerful," Sabé said. "Perhaps more powerful than you master."

Amidala scoffed, "If he was more powerful than I, then why am I holding his severed head?"

"It's because we outnumbered him," Rabé said.

"We did," Amidala agreed, "Which just goes to show that individual power only goes so far. The Sith will never maintain power if they don't understand this. Let Palpatine's fall serve as a lesson against the folly of relying solely on your own individual power. Now let us leave before we are discovered."

The three of them descended out the window back to Amidala's apartment. Sabé and Rabé were excited over their victory but Amidala's thoughts were towards what would come next. She would need to appoint a new Senator, one that she could trust; she was trying to decide between Eirtaé and Sabé, both of whom were ready to end their apprenticeship. But she was also concerned about Palpatine's Zabrak apprentice. She didn't know what he had been told, just what training he had, or what he would do next. All she knew was that he was threat that she would eventually have to eliminate. She fell asleep still trying to decide what she would do after speaking at the Senate tomorrow.

Sorry to disappoint anyone if they expected Palpatine to stick around for a while, but fear not Darth Maul will return eventually.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Amidala awoke the next day still undecided about which of her handmaidens to appoint as the temporary Senator of Naboo. Not long after she had awoken Captain Panaka, head of her non-Sith security team, informed her that Senator Palpatine was missing. Amidala expressed her concern but she knew just what had happened. She looked over at a black box sitting across the room that contained Palpatine's severed head, and smiled after Panaka had left.

But the smile didn't last long, she still had a lot of work to do. Not only did she have to address the Senate and appoint a new representative from Naboo, but she also needed to go back to Naboo and do something about the Trade Federation, as anything she was likely to say was going to fall on deaf ears in the Senate. She also needed to try and figure out what to do about the boy Anakin. Unfortunately Qui-Gon had taken him to the Jedi Temple; she could only hope that they thought the boy was too old to begin training. Jedi had such ridiculous notions about such things. And then there was Palpatine's apprentice, she didn't know what he was going to do, or if he even knew that his Master was dead. He was probably her biggest concern because he was the most unpredictable.

Reluctantly she arose and allowed Sabé, Rabé and Eirtaé to prepare her for her appearance before the Senate. While they were helping her dress and doing her elaborate hair and makeup, Eirtaé gave Amidala an account of her latest attempts to get closer with Obi-Wan. As she listened Amidala knew who she which handmaiden she would leave behind to be Senator.

"We are all going to be returning to Naboo today," Amidala said, "Except for you Eirtaé. I'm leaving you behind to serve as Senator, at least on a temporary basis."

"Thank you master," Eirtaé responded.

"My time as your master is nearing an end, I'm going recommend you face the Sith Trials to the council." Amidala said.

Amidala could feel the jealousy coming off of Sabé and Rabé over this announcement.

"Don't be jealous you two, I'm going to recommend you as well Sabé after all you were the one who struck the final blow on Palpatine." Amidala informed her.

"But why does she get to be Senator?" Sabé asked.

"I'm leaving her hear for a number of reasons," Amidala replied. "She has a few years more experience than you with politics and if she remains here she can continue attempting to build a relationship with that young Jedi and possibly turn him. Also you are my double Sabé; I need to keep you near me just in case."

Sabé nodded in understanding, but Rabé was still annoyed.

"What about me?" Rabé asked. "Will I get to face the trials?"

"You're not ready yet," Amidala replied smoothly. "If you wish to face them I will recommend you, but you will fail and you will die."

"You don't know that," Rabé said.

"I've faced and passed the trials myself, I do know what they require and I know that you aren't ready." Amidala said. "Remember overconfidence was what killed Palpatine."

Rabé wisely decided not to argue with her further. When they left the apartment the entire Republic Executive Building was in chaos. Palpatine being missing seemed to be of great concern. She was told that Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan were above in Palpatine's office. Amidala decided it would be best to go talk with them.

As she arrived at the office the two Jedi were just on their way out.

"Your majesty, I'm afraid there may be more to your Senator's disappearance than originally thought," Qui-Gon said.

Amidala kept her face passive, doing her best not to betray any emotion, "Whatever do you mean?" she asked calmly.

"We think it was the Sith," Obi-Wan replied. "Probably the one that attacked us on Tatooine."

Qui-Gon gave a glance back at his apprentice, "That's a possibility, but we don't know for certain. But there are signs of a break-in here and also the dark side lingers here. It's strange it's almost as if a very powerful dark side user died here."

"I have heard that there are always two, a master and an apprentice," Amidala said. "Could it be that one of them killed the other?"

"That could be," Qui-Gon admitted. "But why would they both have been here?"

"That I cannot answer for you," Amidala replied. "But as for my Senator do you believe him dead or kidnapped?"

"It's more than likely he is dead," Qui-Gon replied. "If the Sith were here he most likely killed him and disposed of the body. I can't see the Sith holding your Senator for ransom, it just isn't their style."

"No, money usually isn't an issue for them," Amidala agreed, more than Qui-Gon knew.

"Well you have my condolences your majesty," Qui-Gon said.

"Thank you, Palpatine's death is a great tragedy, but I will not let it be in vain." Amidala declared. "Clearly these Sith are working with the Trade Federation and the Senate must know about it. This only helps further the charges of criminal activity against them."

Amidala could see that Qui-Gon wanted to make an argument against her statement, but the Jedi were sworn not to be protectors and not to take matters of government into their own hands. So instead Qui-Gon just nodded and he and Obi-Wan left.

Amidala took a final look around Palpatine's office. The faint scars of a lightsaber battle were evident around the room, something that she had missed in the dark. She hoped that Qui-Gon's investigation into Palpatine's disappearance didn't end up hypothesizing that Palpatine himself was a Sith; that could very well bring multiple Jedi to Naboo and that would not sit well with many Sith back on Naboo.

Amidala and her handmaidens then headed to the Senate building next door, to address the Senate. As she approached the main chamber Amidala was met by Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum.

"Your majesty, it is good to see you, but these might not be the best time to address the Senate. Everyone is in an uproar over the disappearance of your Senator," Valorum informed her.

"I beg to differ Chancellor Valorum," Amidala responded. "The Jedi have told me that my Senator was attacked by the Sith and is likely dead. I believe that the Senate needs to know about this."

Valorum did not seem surprised by this at all, "Yes of course, you are right." He agreed.

Amidala was surprised that somebody as weak-willed as Valorum had somehow risen to position of Supreme Chancellor. She concluded that he had probably been put into that position to be puppet by someone else or perhaps a group of others. She also deduced that Palpatine had planned to take the position of Supreme Chancellor for himself. What he planned to do with that position was still a bit of a mystery as the Chancellor held little actual power, but it was better than being a mere Senator.

Amidala stepped into the Pod reserved for the Senator from Naboo and looked out into the Senate Chamber. She had seen holos of it before but even in spite of her Sith training she found herself in awe looking around at the immense room, the constant drone of thousands of people talking at once audible in the background. She looked up and saw Chancellor Valorum enter his pod and try to take control of the Senate but it was not particularly effective. Eventually Valorum had to resort to shouting for quiet. He then introduced Amidala as the Queen of Naboo. Rabé sat at the pod's controls and guided up into the middle of the chamber.

"Thank you Chancellor Valorum," Amidala said. "I come before you to inform you about the crimes currently being committed by the Trade Federation who had illegally invaded my home planet of Naboo. Not only that, but they have allied themselves with the Sith, the ancient enemies of the Jedi and it is a Sith who is responsible for the disappearance of my Senator."

At this point Amidala was interrupted by a Neimoidian Senator.

"This is outrageous," the Neimoidian declared. "She has no proof of any of these accusations."

"The chair does not recognize the Senator from the Trade Federation," Valorum said.

Amidala however was willing to take on this challenge, "Do you also dispute that you have illegally blockaded my planet."

"That blockade was perfectly legal, we had a contract for the mining and shipping of plasma," the Trade Federation Senator responded. "We began that blockade with the authorization of the Senate."

Amidala was beginning to get a better idea of what had been going on in the Senate. But if she wanted to gain the favour of the majority of the Senate here she would have to do something drastic.

"So did the Senate give you authorization to associate with the Sith?" Amidala asked. "Because even if the Senate decides not to do anything I'm certain that the Jedi will be investigating you."

"The Jedi wouldn't dare," the Senator said.

Amidala could feel his fear, and it was a specific fear. The Senator was afraid of what would happen should their association with the Sith be discovered. Likely Palpatine had threatened him with death.

"The Jedi do what they will outside of the jurisdiction of the Senate," Amidala said. "But since one of their own masters was attacked I'm sure they will be happy to take my advice."

That seemed to incite a roar of debate amongst the Senate, apparently a large portion of the Senators did not like that the Jedi did not report to anyone. That was an interesting fact that Amidala did not know before, she filed that away for future use. Valorum once again struggled to restore order in the Senate but final manage to calm them down.

"Of course if when I return to my planet the blockade has been lifted I may just point them in another direction," Amidala said to the Trade Federation Senator directly, aside from the ears of the other Senators.

She could sense his fear and indecision not knowing just what to do.

"I intend to return to Naboo," Amidala said to the Senate. "But given the disappearance of my planet's Senator I have no choice but to appoint a replacement. I present you with Senator Eirtaé the new representative from Naboo."

Eirtaé stepped forward as the Senate polite applauded. Amidala stepped back as Eirtaé addressed the Senate stating her goals and such, Amidala wasn't really paying attention. She was focused on her next move, she had to return to Naboo and get the Trade Federation to leave.

As she left the Senate Chamber she was met by Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan once again.

"I understand that you wish to return to Naboo," Qui-Gon said. "With the Sith clearly after you I believe we should accompany you."

"I appreciate the gesture, but I would like it if one of you would stay here on Coruscant to protect my new Senator," Amidala said.

"New Senator?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Yes, Senator Eirtaé," Amidala replied.

She saw Obi-Wan's eyes widen ever so slightly as he looked to Eirtaé who gave him a smile.

"I'll stay here to guard the Senator," Obi-Wan offered. "Besides it would be a lot better if a master went to Naboo with her majesty."

Amidala watched as Qui-Gon frowned, clearly he didn't like the idea but there was no disputing Obi-Wan's logic.

"That's probably for the best, and Obi-Wan will have the support of the Jedi Temple nearby," Eirtaé added.

"Very well," Qui-Gon agreed. "When do you plan to leave?"

"As soon as possible," Amidala replied.

"I will inform the council and then join you." Qui-Gon said.

"I'll accompany you back to your apartment," Obi-Wan said.

They made their way across a sky-bridge back to the Republic Executive Building, Obi-Wan followed behind the whole way. He kept trying to discreetly glance at Eirtaé but Amidala noticed every look. When they arrived back at the apartment Amidala took Eirtaé aside for a private conversation.

"You seem to have him obsessed with you," Amidala commented.

"I don't think it's enough to get him to turn yet," Eirtaé said.

"You're the Senator now," Amidala said. "You know longer need to worry about dressing like a handmaiden, you've got a lot more charms at your disposal now."

"And my trials?" Eirtaé asked.

"Your appointment is only temporary," Amidala replied. "The council will likely want to appoint someone else, you'll be brought back to do your trials when they do."

Eirtaé nodded in understanding. Amidala then had Sabé and Rabé gather her remaining things and they headed to the ship. Eirtaé accompanied them along with Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon arrived at almost the exact same time. Farewells were exchanged and then they were off to space, and then back to Naboo.

Sorry if this isn't the greatest chapter, once again it is sort of a transitional chapter before we get to something fun, namely Amidala and the other Sith taking back Naboo from the Trade Federation. And there are still other things Amidala needs to deal with, like Qui-Gon, who is getting suspicious and Anakin who is being left behind at the Temple and Darth Maul.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Amidala was up in the cockpit when they came out of hyperspace near Naboo. She was somewhat surprised to see that only a single battleship belonging to the Trade Federation remained.

"Is that one of the Droid Control ships?" Amidala asked her pilot.

"Yes it is," The pilot replied.

Amidala was pleased that she had identified the ship. She had done a little reading into the ships that the Trade Federation used for their droid armies and learned that they often only needed a single ship to control the droid army after it had landed, and given that communications with the planet were still down it was likely that the droid army was still on the surface. That was probably why the Trade Federation Senator had been so nervous. He knew there likely wasn't going to be time to get the other ships back in time to remove the droid army. But even if they did return they wouldn't be removing the droid army; Amidala was already formulating a plan in her head on what to do next.

"Land us as close to Dee'ja Peak as possible," Amidala instructed the pilot.

"Why there?" he asked.

Amidala was a little frustrated, but the pilot was a non-Force Sensitive Nubian.

"If any of the towns were able to hold out against the droid armies of the Trade Federation it would have been Dee'ja Peak. It is highly defensible, the only real way to attack it is orbital bombardment. And I doubt that the Trade Federation would risk the ramifications of orbital bombardment." Amidala replied.

That answer seemed to satisfy the pilot, "Yes your Majesty," he responded and began working with his co-pilot on finding a place to set down.

As Amidala went back to meet up with her handmaidens she was met by Qui-Gon; she wanted very much just to gut the Jedi right there with lightsaber, but she knew that it would only cause trouble. She was willing to wait for a more opportune moment to kill him.

"Just what exactly is your plan, you majesty?" Qui-Gon asked.

"For now we just need to get down on the planet," Amidala replied. "I left instructions that my people were to surrender peacefully and co-operate. But once they see I have returned I know a good many will be ready to rise up."

"All very well, but what then?" Qui-Gon inquired.

"Well from there we shall see," Amidala replied, not wanting give away that she already had a detailed plan formulated. "It is dependent upon how many people I can rally to my side. But I believe that the Trade Federation's leaders will be in the Royal Palace in Theed."

Qui-Gon nodded in approval, "I suspect you are right, and I am glad you do not intend to be rash and rush at the headlong."

"I may be young, but I am not a fool," Amidala said. "Many others have been defeated by me because they believed that."

Qui-Gon nodded and allowed her to continue back to her personal quarters to talk with her handmaidens. Sabé and Rabé were expecting her when she entered.

"So what exactly is the plan?" Sabé asked.

"The Trade Federation is controlling their droid army with a single ship," Amidala replied. "If we can capture that ship we can reprogram the droid army to fight for us. However we will need to capture the Trade Federation leaders simultaneously. I suspect they are staying in the Royal Palace, but the council will have better information on what is going on. We are going to land at Dee'ja Peak and discuss it with them first."

"Won't the Jedi be suspicious?" Rabé inquired.

"He won't be attending the meeting," Amidala replied. "And even if he does start poking around he is one Jedi amongst dozens of Sith, but I'd like to keep it from coming to that; It is better if we can keep him unaware."

Her handmaidens agreed with that statement and they soon got word over the intercom that they were heading in for a landing. The pilot set the ship down a good twenty miles away from Dee'ja Peak.

"It looks as if the Trade Federation has formed a perimeter around the city," the pilot said. "It looks like they're just trying to starve them out or something."

"That will never happen," Amidala scoffed. "There are at least a dozen secret tunnels through the mountains into the city, with which they can resupply themselves."

Amidala and her two remaining Handmaidens got the three speeder bikes in the ships storage bay ready for travel, when Qui-Gon approached her again.

"You should let me come with you your Majesty," Qui-Gon said. "I would feel much better knowing you were safe."

"I appreciate your concern Master Qui-Gon," Amidala replied. "But I'm afraid you would be somewhat conspicuous in Dee'ja Peak, and we don't know if we have any traitors or informants on our hands. My people have put their faith in me and I will put my faith in them that they will keep me safe. Besides, I would feel better knowing that you are protecting my ship, in case we need to leave the planet in a hurry once more."

She could tell Qui-Gon was a bit suspicious and that he wanted to go to Dee'ja Peak, but he consented to let her travel alone, save for Sabé and Rabé. The three of them travelled by speeder bike to Dee'ja Peak through on of the secret tunnels which had its entrance located almost five miles away from town.

The Sith Council had been expecting her and she did not have to wait for them to convene. Sabé and Rabé waited outside while Amidala went to speak with the council alone.

"Palpatine has been dealt with," Amidala informed the council. "It's clear that he was conspiring against Naboo with the Trade Federation, although they likely had no idea it was him."

"To what ends would he do such a thing?" Lord Marr asked.

"It would seem he was hoping to become the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic," Amidala replied. "What his plan was from there I don't know, but I doubt that the wellbeing of our people was part of it."

"And how did the traitor meet his end?" Lady Jaga inquired.

Amidala pulled out the box she had brought with her which contained Palpatine's severed head. She opened it up and tossed his head on the floor.

"He met his end at the blade of my apprentice Sabé," Amidala replied. "I will admit he was far more powerful than I had expected, he has had Sith training from another source. But it made him overconfident, and that led to his downfall."

"A fitting end for a traitor," Lord Vilus commented.

"And what of the Senate?" Lord Arctis asked.

"I have left my apprentice Eirtaé behind as the Senator for now, until the council can agree on a suitable replacement." Amidala replied. "Although I believe both she and my apprentice Sabé are ready to face their Sith trials."

"If you feel they are ready then this council is in agreement," Lord Marr said.

"Then I wish to give Sabé her trial now," Amidala replied. "If she can lead a team and infiltrate and capture the Trade Federation's Droid Control Ship, and in doing so capture their droid army for our use I believe that to be sufficient to raise her to the rank of full Sith."

The other four members of the council all gave their agreement.

"That trial should be sufficient, how many member would be on her team?" Lord Vilus asked.

"I should think a five other members would be sufficient," Amidala replied. "I would like to send my other three handmaidens and two Sith-trained pilots."

"Saché and Yané are still in Theed but they can be recalled without issue," Lord Arctis said.

Lady Jaga nodded, "The plan reasonable. I believe both my niece and nephew would be suited to assist your handmaidens with this mission."

Lady Jaga's niece was a fifteen year-old girl named Cordé who had been put forth as choice for Amidala's handmaidens, however she had felt that while the girl was strong in the force she had a bit more of a militant leaning towards her which wasn't what Amidala was looking for in a handmaiden. Her nephew was a boy named Gregar, he was two years older than his sister Cordé. He was not as strong in the Force as his sister but made up for it by being an incredible physical specimen. He was considered to be the best athlete on the planet and Amidala imagined her would be very dangerous in lightsaber combat. Both of them had been training with the Royal Guard, training which included pilot training.

"I believe they would as well," Amidala agreed.

"Then we will have ship readied for them so they may depart immediately," Lady Jaga said. "My own personal transport should suffice."

Lady Jaga was in truth Lady Adela Typho, the head of the Typho family who were one of the wealthiest families on Naboo, she had the largest personal fleet of ships on the planet.

"But what is your plan?" Lord Marr asked.

"I intend to go to Theed and take back my palace," Amidala replied. "I assume that is where the Trade Federation's leaders are currently?"

"They are, I have had my wife keep an eye on them," Lord Arctis replied.

"Then I will personally lead a small assault team of my Royal Guards to Theed to take the Trade Federation Leaders hostage," Amidala said. "As much as I would like to butcher them I don't want to have this end with unnecessary bloodshed, we need to maintain a certain reputation."

"It seems as though you have everything well in hand," Lord Vilus commented. "You almost don't need us Lady Amidala."

"I wouldn't dare do anything without first consulting my fellow council members," Amidala replied. "Do not mistake me for Palpatine, I truly believe we must all work together to rebuild the Sith Empire."

"I'm sure Lord Vilus was just giving you a compliment," Lord Arctis intervened.

Amidala and Vilus stared at each other for a few moments before Amidala turned on her heel and left the room. Sabé and Rabé were waiting for her outside.

"What did the council decide?" Sabé asked.

"You are going to face your Sith Trials," Amidala replied.

"When?" Sabé asked excitedly.

"Immediately," Amidala replied. "You are to lead a small task force to board and capture the Trade Federation's Droid Control Ship. Capturing the ship will also capture the droid army they have landed on the planet. If for whatever reason capture becomes impossible you are to destroy the ship, but if you must destroy the ship don't come back because you will have failed your trial."

Amidala noticed that Sabé was nervous, but Sabé nodded.

"Who will be on my task force Master?" Sabé inquired, not letting her voice betray her fear.

"You will take Rabé, Saché and Yané as well as Lady Jaga's niece Cordé and her nephew Gregar." Amidala replied. "They will be your pilots to the Droid Control Ship. You'll be using one of Lady Jaga's personal transports."

"And what about you Master?" Rabé asked.

"I will be leading the Royal Guard as we take back the Royal Palace and take the Trade Federation Leaders hostage." Amidala replied.

"But you won't have us protecting you," Rabé said.

"No, but I will have the element of surprise, and I will have my Jedi protector," Amidala said with a sly smile.

Both Sabé and Rabé couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of a Jedi protecting their Sith Master. Amidala then wished them both luck and went back to the ship to explain the plan to the Royal Guard and Qui-Gon, or at least her part of the plan.

When she arrived back at the ship she found Qui-Gon waiting for her.

"It is good to see you back," Qui-Gon said. "But where are your handmaidens?"

"My handmaidens have their own mission," Amidala answered.

"So what is your next move?" Qui-Gon asked.

"My allies in Dee'ja Peak confirmed that the Trade Federation leaders are residing in the Royal Palace," Amidala replied. "Tomorrow we are going to sneak into the palace and take the Trade Federation's leaders hostage and use them to sue for peace."

That wasn't entirely the plan but she wasn't going to let Qui-Gon live long enough to know the true plan.

"I don't like the idea of taking hostages," Qui-Gon argued.

"Consider them Prisoners of War then," Amidala tried to appease him. "Whatever you must do to ease your conscience."

"I will protect you," Qui-Gon said. "But I will not have any part in negotiating with prisoners or hostages."

Amidala shrugged, "Very well, suit yourself. I'm going to do whatever I must for my people."

Qui-Gon frowned, Amidala could tell that he did not approve of her decision, as he hadn't approved of most of her decisions in the brief time they had known each other. She didn't really care though, by the end of tomorrow Qui-Gon Jinn would be dead, and as she went to bed that night she had smile on her face as she dreamed of all the ways that she could kill him.

Another transitional chapter, but the next one will have a great deal of action. I intend to have the attack on Theed and the Handmaidens attack on the Droid Control Ship to be told each in two separate chapters so there may be a bit more of a gap between chapters as I intend to put them up at the same time.

Please read and review, your comments are appreciated and I try to address any questions or suggestions.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – Assault on Droid Control Ship**

Sabé was excited to finally be facing her Sith Trials. She had the utmost confidence that she would succeed at capturing the Trade Federation's Droid Control Ship. Like the other Handmaiden's she was dressed in black plastoid battle armor. Cordé and Gregar were also present, dressed in similarly coloured flight suits. The siblings were both tall, Gregar being only a little bit taller than his younger sister, and both athletically built. Gregar had short cropped brown hair while Cordé had curly brown hair but she had it tied up in a military style bun at the moment.

The plan was to fly one of Lady Jaga's private shuttles up to the Droid Control Ship. Because everything with the Droid Control Ship was automated, all they had to do was fly up to the ship broadcasting the registration number of a Trade Federation vehicle, which had been obtained by other Sith working in secret in Theed from one of the Trade Federation's shuttles that they used to take their leaders to and from the ship. Once they neared the Droid Control Ship the ship's automated system would automatically initiate docking procedures, and once they were on board all they needed to do was reach the bridge to take control of the ship.

"Just remember everyone, no use of lightsabers, at least until we reach the bridge" Sabé said. "We don't want the Trade Federation to report us. Try to keep your use of Force Powers to a minimum."

"You're kind of taking all the fun out of this mission," Yané complained.

The youngest of the handmaidens had a tendency to speak out of turn, Sabé was about to angrily discipline her but Saché stepped between.

"Missions aren't about fun," Saché stated. "But you can always try and make using a blaster fun."

Sabé didn't really agree with Saché firm belief that in-fighting amongst the Sith should not occur over anything save for betrayal. She found it too passive, too… Jedi, and she knew that Lady Amidala had similar misgivings, but she could appreciate Saché's ability to end an argument with words as it meant less mess to be cleaned up and less things destroyed.

"Regardless of the fun factor this is going to be a blasters first mission," Sabé said gruffly. "If we do this right we will have an army capable of invading planets."

"An army of droids," Gregar commented.

"We can upgrade their programming," Rabé responded.

"And an army of droids is better than no army at all," Sabé added.

"Let's get in the air then," Cordé said.

Sabé liked Cordé, even if she was impatient. She was organized and militant and she seemed to burn with a controlled rage. But her brother Gregar was a different story. He seemed to like killing and that was it. He wasn't a big fan of this mission because they would mostly be fighting droids and they weren't as fun to shoot as organics.

"We need to wait for Amidala's signal," Sabé replied. "We can't leave before the signal or the timing of the mission will be off. But let's get on board and get ready."

They all climbed on to the shuttle, a modified Nubian T-type Cargo ship, known in the military service as the Royal Lifter. Gregar and Cordé climbed into the pilot and co-pilot seats respectively, while Sabé and the rest of the handmaidens took their seats in the back. Sabé found herself wishing that Eirtaé was joining them on this mission. As much as she was loathe to admit it, the five handmaidens worked best when they were all together as a team. She felt entirely confident in her ability to lead the team, but Eirtaé was perhaps the only other handmaiden that rivalled her and pushed her to be better.

Sabé was partially lost in thought, when Cordé interrupted her.

"We've got the signal," Cordé notified her. "We launch on your command."

"Let's capture us an army," Sabé said with a grin.

Gregar raised the ship up into the air and then engaged the engines sending the ship towards space. The trip to space took about five minutes till they reached orbit. Cordé plotted a course to the Droid Control Ship and Gregar engaged the sub-light engines. They saw the Droid Control Ship, a large torus shaped vessel, with a large sphere in the middle. As they approached they all waited with baited breath. The stolen registration number was supposed to work perfectly, but they all knew that there was a chance something could go awry. But the worry was all for naught as the Droid Control Ship took over and pulled their ship into the inner docking bay nearest the bridge which was located in the sphere.

"Alright, it's show time," Sabé said as she drew her S-5 Blaster Pistols from their holsters.

Cordé lowered the ramp to the ship and the Sabé led the way down the ramp. She immediately saw security battle droids as she reached the bottom of the ramp and she opened fire taking the droids out. Yané and Saché were immediately behind her, guns at the ready. Rabé and Cordé came out and Gregar came last wielding a repeating blaster cannon in case they needed some heavy firepower.

Sabé was surprised at how light security on ship was, but then thought that the majority of droids were likely down on Naboo. They made their way off the hanger deck towards the narrow portion of the ship that connected the bridge with the rest of the ship. However when they reached the corridor the blast doors sealed behind them and a pair of droidekas rolled out and immediately went into battle formation and activated their shields.

There was almost nowhere to hide, but Sabé had been prepared for these droids. She pressed the button for the thermal detonator on her belt and tossed it towards the droidekas before diving to the ground. All the others ran to try and find cover as the droidekas opened fire. However they were soon cut off by the thermal detonator exploding overpowering their shields and tearing them apart.

Sabé quickly got her squad regrouped and they continued on to the bridge. Security droids began appearing out of every door way but as they ran down the corridor they worked together to gun them down. Gregar brought up the rear gun down droids that tried to pursue them with his repeating blaster.

However when they reached the door to the bridge they found it closed and sealed.

"We won't be able to blow this with what we have," Cordé said as she examined the door. "It's too thick. There's only one way through."

Sabé knew that meant cutting it open with lightsabers. But there was no other option.

"Alright, Cordé, Yané you two get cutting the door open. Everyone else cover them," Sabé ordered.

While Cordé and Yané got to work cutting the door open, Sabé, Rabé, Saché and Gregar all took up positions to defend from the likely attack by security droids. At first the resistance was light with only a few droids which they easily picked off and a single Droideka which Gregar blasted before it could unfurl and activate its shields.

"How much longer?" Sabé asked not looking back as she kept her sense on the hall in front waiting for droids.

"About thirty more seconds," Cordé responded.

"Oh dear…" Sabé heard Saché mutter.

Before Sabé got a chance to ask her what was wrong a huge hoard of droids came bearing down at them. Sabé wasn't sure how many but it had to be close at least one hundred. Rabé threw her thermal detonator which destroyed dozens of the droids, and it would temporarily blind their sensors as they had infrared sensors rather than photoreceptors. Gregar poked out from behind his cover and began unloading with his repeating blaster, cutting down a droid with each shot. But the droids returned fire and Gregar went down with multiple blaster wounds. Rabé pulled him to cover while Saché tossed her thermal detonator destroying more droids and blinding them once more.

"How much longer?" Sabé asked once again.

"Ten seconds," Cordé replied.

"Rabé check Gregar's wounds," Sabé ordered.

Sabé then grabbed dropped her S-5's and picked up Gregar's repeating blaster and began firing at the droids. There were many left and Saché helped pick them off. But then a pair of Droidekas arrived, Sabé was able to destroy one before it unfurled but the other unfurled and began firing at them.

"We're through!" Yané exclaimed.

Sabé turned around to see them shove a chunk of the blast door through the hole they had cut and storm in behind it. The sound of blaster fire soon emanated from the hole.

"Everyone get to the bridge!" Sabé ordered.

"What about Gregar?" Rabé asked.

Sabé took a quick look at Gregar, he was unconscious from his injuries and they didn't look good. He might survive with immediate medical care but they had no time for that. Sabé grabbed one Rabé's S-5's and put a bolt in Gregar's head.

"Let's go," Sabé said.

She was the last one to make it through the hole onto the bridge. Most of the bridge crew was already dead when she got on the bridge. She killed off a few more.

"Alright, Saché, Rabé get to reprogramming the main computer," Sabé directed. "Yané and Cordé watch the door in case that Droideka tries to get in here."

All of them went to fulfill their assigned tasks. Sabé went to one of the stations where a dead Neimoidian was slumped over the controls. She pulled him off and dumped his body to the ground. She looked at the screen and saw that this was the ship security terminal. She flashed through the cameras and saw that there were Neimoidian technicians still onboard the ship. She didn't know what they were up to but she worried that they could ruin the mission.

"Cordé is it possible to reseal the door?" Sabé asked.

"There's an emergency airlock door, it's not as thick," Cordé replied.

"Close it," Sabé said. "And then we need to find the environmental controls."

"What are you going to do?" Yané asked.

"I'm going to vent the atmosphere from everywhere on the ship but the bridge," Sabé replied. "There's still dozens of Neimoidians on this ship, I need them dead."

Cordé activated the emergency airlock door and then assisted Yané and Sabé in finding the environmental controls. Yané found them and shoved the dead Neimoidian out of the chair and sat down. Sabé came behind her to supervise. Yané first overrode the emergency airlock doors and forced them to remain open throughout the ship. She then disabled the alarms that notified those in the area of a loss of atmosphere. Then she vented entire ship's atmosphere save for the bridge.

Sabé watch on the security cameras as Neimoidians all over the ship collapsed and died from lack of air. Sabé reached out in the force and felt for any life not on the bridge and was relieved when she felt nothing. With the ship secure they now just needed to finish reprogram the central droid control computer.

"How goes the reprogramming?" Sabé inquired.

"We're almost done," Rabé replied. "The droids should be turning on their former masters in just a minute."

"There's just going to be a brief shut down first," Saché added.

"Excellent, send word to Lady Amidala that the mission was a complete success." Sabé said.

"What about Gregar?" Cordé asked.

"Your brother died to complete the mission." Sabé replied. "Unless you'd prefer me to mention how he foolishly put himself in the line of fire."

"I would," Cordé replied. "My brother was an arrogant fool. He deserved to die. But my parents will want his body."

"We'll take it with us then," Sabé replied. "He should still be just outside the door. Yané get to restoring atmosphere to the ship so we can recover Gregar's body and so other shuttles can board the ship. I'm sure the Queen will want to tour the flagship of her new armed forces."

This is the first chapter of two chapters told in parallel the story of what happens on Naboo at Theed will be in the next chapter. Feel free to review each chapter separately if you wish.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Amidala, Qui-Gon and Amidala's Royal Guard approached the hanger of the Royal Starfighter Defense Force. The plan was to enter the hanger first and launch the fighters which could provide diversionary strafing runs and air support if necessary. It was also likely going to leave the Trade Federation oblivious to their actual mission which was to capture their leaders. With the threat of the fighters they would likely all take refuge somewhere in the Royal Palace in one room making it even easier to capture them.

Going to the hanger first had another advantage. The hanger had a tunnel connecting it to the palace which would likely provide safe passage. The tunnel had been built in concert with the underground plasma mine which was the cause of this whole problem in the first place.

Taking the hanger proved to be surprisingly easy as the Trade Federation had barely left any guards to protect. The six pilots that were in the Royal Guard all climbed into N-1 fighters and took off, one was shot down by Trade Federation anti-air cannon, but the rest all took safely to the air before they turned back around and destroyed the cannon.

With the fighters in the air the rest of the assault group made their way towards the tunnels that led to the plasma mine which connected the hanger to the palace.

"Are you sure this is the best route?" Captain Panaka asked as they descended on a turbolift.

"With the fighters in the air over Theed, the Trade Federation will be expecting us to make an assault that way and have the majority of their troops above ground." Amidala replied. "The tunnels should be lightly defended at best, if we're lucky they'll be completely empty."

"I have to agree with the Queen," Qui-Gon replied. "The tunnels are also safer as we don't really have anything other than the fighters to protect us and counter the Trade Federations tanks."

Captain Panaka gruffly accepted the explanation but clearly didn't like the idea of travelling through the tunnels. Amidala thought that perhaps he was a bit claustrophobic and the idea of being underground frightened him. That was good if that was the case, a man would often fight better if he was frightened, perhaps not smarter but that wasn't what was needed against droids.

Amidala's prediction turned out to be true, there were no droid guards in the tunnels. However Panaka insisted on travelling slowly and with caution just in case they did run into any droids. As they neared the mining facility itself they did come across some droids and her guards ended up shooting them before the realized that these were not combat droid, but rather mining droids who were mining the plasma.

"You need to calm your men down captain," Amidala said. "It does no good if they are so jittery all the time. If you destroy more mining droids they may send someone down to investigate."

"That's not likely," Panaka said. "Besides they could turn these droids against us."

"These droids have almost no combat capability," Qui-Gon said. "But they are capable to providing surveillance, she is right destroying them is not a good idea. Just ignore them and we should be fine."

Once again Panaka grumbled in agreement. Amidala wondered if perhaps he was slightly technophobic with a hatred for droids. Given that the outcome of today should result in her gaining a large droid army she wasn't sure if she wanted to keep Panaka around as he would probably argue with her about droids not being as capable as people. It was a sound argument but you could make droids do whatever you want, people were a lot more difficult to manipulate into doing what you wanted. However now was not the time to worry about what to do with Panaka; she would decide that once she was successful, because if she didn't focus on the task at hand success might never occur.

But just when it looked like things were going perfect, a disaster occurred. Amidala had always considered him the wildcard that could possibly ruin her plan, but she had to go ahead regardless. Eirtaé had found out his name after going through Palpatine's office back on Coruscant, but other than that there was no information on the Zabrak Sith. Amidala wasn't sure how, but somehow, someway Darth Maul had come here to Naboo and ended up down in the tunnels in the last place Amidala wanted him to be.

Maul ignited his lightsaber and gave a sadistic grin. Qui-Gon immediately stepped in front of Amidala igniting his own lightsaber.

"Your majesty get out of here," Qui-Gon ordered.

Amidala however didn't move. This was her chance to eliminate two enemies in one swoop and she was not going to miss it. She knew that one of either Maul or Qui-Gon would not walk away from this fight, and she wanted to make sure that she was on hand to kill the victor.

"Panaka take the side tunnel and lead the mission," Amidala said. "It's me he's after."

Qui-Gon turned and looked at her with disbelief, a mistake on his part as Maul quickly closed in and Qui-Gon barely had time to block his attack. Amidala ran in the opposite direction, hoping that Maul would give chase. Fortune quickly swung back in her favour as Maul shoved Qui-Gon aside with a Force Push which sent the Jedi Master cartwheeling a good ten meters away. Maul gave chase to Amidala as she led him into the mining pit of the plasma mine. Amidala knew that she couldn't use the force to aid her speed as that would tip Qui-Gon off and that meant that Maul quickly caught up to her. She used all of her athletic ability to avoid his attack for brief moments before Qui-Gon came to her rescue. The two then began battling down the bridge way towards the mining pit. Ten laser barriers protected the pit opening and closing at seemingly random intervals to let mining droids through.

Maul and Qui-Gon seemed evenly matched in their battle until Maul ignited the other end of his lightsaber revealing that he was trained in the double-bladed lightsaber style. After that the tide of the battle seemed to swing heavily in Maul's favour. Qui-Gon was retreating quickly but Maul kept pressing the attack. Qui-Gon gave Maul a force shove and the laser gates swung closed blocking Maul from Qui-Gon. Another five laser gates in the other direction separated Maul from Amidala, who was trying to remain inconspicuous, lest Maul turn around and try to attack her once again; but fortunately he seemed focused entirely on Qui-Gon as he paced in front of the laser gate, batting at it with his lightsaber while Qui-Gon just quietly meditated, likely trying to regain his composure.

The laser gates opened once again and Darth Maul came charging at Qui-Gon who was struggling to deal with Maul already. Amidala tried to run through the gates after them but got trapped behind the last gate. She was a little disappointed because if the fight ended before she got past this last gate she would lose her chance to surprise attack the winner.

She decided to focus on the two combatants fighting styles. Maul's form seemed to be rather vicious and to the untrained eye seemed to just be a constant series of slashes, but Amidala knew a lot about lightsaber combat and she could appreciate how Maul's form allowed him to keep up a constant attack that left very few gaps for Qui-Gon to counter attack.

Qui-Gon's form meanwhile was surprisingly poor for a supposed Jedi Master. He constantly kept both hands on his lightsaber which actually limited the range of motion he had, but it seemed like he had to use both hands so he could weather the power of Maul's blows. Amidala watched as Darth Maul continued to press Qui-Gon back around the mining pit, she was anxious for the laser gate to reopen and let her in, it looked as though Maul would beat Qui-Gon any second now.

And just as she thought about, the end occurred. Qui-Gon tried to counterattack with a two handed downward chop, but Maul deftly deflected Qui-Gon's blade downward. Maul then hit Qui-Gon with the hilt of his lightsaber in the nose, clearly breaking it. Qui-Gon almost lost his grip on his lightsaber in surprise and was completely unable to defend himself as Maul drove the end of his lightsaber through his chest.

Amidala watched with disappointment as the Jedi Master slumped to his knees gasping for breath and then fell over on his side dead. Maul quickly turned his attention back towards Amidala.

"You're next," Maul growled.

Amidala just gave his a casual smile as she withdrew her lightsabers from the hidden pockets in her outfit. She lit ignited them both, first the Shoto then her main blade.

"You know we really should be on the same side," Amidala said.

"You're an abomination of all that is Sith," Maul hissed.

As Amidala had thought there was no chance of reasoning with Maul. Palpatine had trained him to basically be a savage animal, who lived to do little more than kill. But that was fine she was all for animal control.

The laser gates began to open once more and Amidala's smile turned into a grin as the last gate opened. Maul sneered at her as they both moved to attack each other. While his fight with Qui-Gon had not taken as much out of Maul as Amidala would have liked, she had been able to study his combat form and devise a strategy of her own. She knew that she would not be able to match his strength. Qui-Gon had been outmatched in that department and he was stronger than she was, so she would use her other assets to her advantage, her speed and her ability to control her anger.

Rather than block Maul's attacks she instead deflected them ever so slightly and moved causing Maul to often lunge past her which put him on the defensive. He was able to recover from this but Amidala could tell that it was frustrating him. As he grew more and more frustrated Maul's attacks became more and more savage. But this was exactly what Amidala was counting on happening. Because as his attacks became more savage he left himself more exposed to counter attack, and a counter attack from Amidala with her two lightsabers was far more dangerous than it had been from Qui-Gon. However Amidala only counter attacked at first with her main blade, content to use her Shoto for blocking.

It finally reached a point where Maul back off a step and then leapt up in the air and came down at Amidala from above, aiming for her head. Amidala deflected his blade with her main blade as she side-stepped. As Maul's feet touched the ground she swung her Shoto across his waist. Maul staggered slightly till her was standing at the edge of the mining pit.

He looked back at Amidala and then fell silently into the pit, his body splitting apart at the waist and disappearing into the darkness.

Amidala looked at Qui-Gon's lifeless body lying on the ground. For a brief moment she considered shoving him into the pit after Maul but then decided against it. His body could prove useful as evidence in the story she planned to tell the Jedi about what had happened. Instead she just deactivated her lightsabers and hid them back away and went to see how Panaka and the rest of Guard had faired and what had happened with Sabé and the rest of her Handmaidens mission to capture the Trade Federation's Droid Control Ship and with it their Droid Army.

Part two of the two Battle of Naboo chapters is complete. Hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter will be back to everything happening together. Please read and review as usual. I appreciate all your comments.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The Battle of Naboo turned out not to be that much of a battle. The Naboo had only lost Gregar and the pilot that had been shot down, and technically they had lost Qui-Gon Jinn who had fought on their side although he wasn't a native of Naboo. Amidala wasn't sure whether to include him in the official statistics, it would mean that he would get a place on the eventual war memorial that was built which she didn't really care for. She had no desire to immortalize a Jedi, but once the Sith Empire came to power it would stand as a monument to her ability to trick a Jedi into fighting for the Sith, who he thought he was fighting against. That thought pleased her so she decided to have Qui-Gon included.

Once Sabé and the others handmaidens had capture the control ship the droids had all turned on their former masters and the Trade Federation quickly surrendered. Amidala wanted to have them all summarily executed but that wouldn't have looked good in the eyes of the Republic who she had to appease right now so she decided just to keep them imprisoned until the Republic judicial system decided what to do with them.

Another issue that caused a lot of strife was that many Jedi came to Naboo to pay homage to Qui-Gon who had his funeral there. Many of the Sith did not like the idea of a large number of Jedi being on Naboo and wanted to attack them since so many would be gather unsuspecting in one place, but Amidala argued against that with the council who agreed that while in the short term it would hurt the Jedi in the long term it would likely doom Naboo, because while they had a droid army if several planets united behind the Jedi they would be in trouble and at the moment they had no definitive allies to assist them.

Eirtaé returned to Naboo along with Obi-Wan who brought Anakin who he had taken on as his Padawan for Qui-Gon's funeral. The council decided that Eirtaé could remain as Senator in the meantime provided that she passed her Sith Trials. Eirtaé's trial had her face Ian Veruna, the son of the previous king, in combat where she easily defeated him. Both Sabé and Eirtaé were inducted as full-fledged members of the Sith order and bestowed with the names Darth Clades for Sabé and Darth Allogi for Eirtaé.

Sabé remained as Amidala's handmaiden as she was invaluable as a double and bodyguard, but Amidala needed to replace Eirtaé, so she chose Cordé to become her fifth handmaiden as Cordé had been close to being one of her handmaidens when she first chose them and had proven herself quite capable during the mission to capture the Droid Control Ship.

The members of the Trade Federation that they had captured were eventually turned over the Republic judicial system. There they faced trial and some were found guilty, but the majority were acquitted. Amidala suspected that the Trade Federation had bought the acquittals of most of them and sacrificed a few so as not to look quite as guilty. The Trade Federation also tried to demand that the Naboo return the droid army they had captured, but Eirtaé insisted in the Senate that the Naboo should be allowed to keep the army to help prevent any future invasions, an argument which won much support with the Senate since Eirtaé argued that the one ship they had was incapable of carrying the bulk of the droids they had captured and they did not plan on building more ships for the transportation of the droid army. The Senate ruled that Naboo would be allowed to keep it as reparations for the invasion by the Trade Federation.

Amidala was the most popular monarch in the history of Naboo and the people wished to make her family the hereditary line of the new monarchy. Amidala accepted but then almost immediately abdicated the throne to allow her older sister Sola become Queen. Sola was not particularly strong in the force like her younger sister, but she had two younger daughters, Ryoo and Pooja both of whom were strong in the force, Pooja more so than Ryoo. Amidala intended for Pooja to become Queen when she came of age, but for now was content to let her sister act as Queen as her sister was a pawn she could control.

Upon stepping down, Amidala took over from Eirtaé as the Senator, Eirtaé however remained on her staff as her representative to act on Proxy whenever Amidala had to return to Naboo for Sith Council meetings or the like. In her many years on Coruscant Eirtaé had managed to develop a secret relationship with Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan believed that nobody else knew about their relationship, although Eirtaé was only too eager to tell Amidala and the handmaidens about her sexual encounters with the Jedi. Eirtaé was quite convinced that Obi-Wan was madly in love with her as he even kept their relationship secret from his Padawan, Anakin. Eirtaé however had no such similar feelings for Obi-Wan as she would take any number of other men to bed with her whenever Obi-Wan was off planet on a mission for the Jedi.

Obi-Wan's Padawan Anakin was the one obstacle that Padmé still had yet to deal with. She was still worried about the prophecy that he would bring balance to the force. Whatever role he was to play she did not believe it would be favourable to her plans, especially since was being trained as a Jedi. But despite her desire to have him eliminated, the opportunity never came up.

Amidala never forgot about Anakin but she had to focus on her new role as Senator. Amidala soon become one of the most popular members of the Senate. She pushed through reforms that were aimed at stopping the governmental power that was being allowed to galactic corporations like the Trade Federation and Intergalactic Banking Clan. In response to these reforms these groups resigned from the Republic to form their own separatist group called the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

The group was led by a former Jedi named Dooku who now stylized himself as a Count, as he had been born to a wealthy family from the planet Serenno but had theoretically given up the wealth and title upon joining the Jedi Order. There was debate as to whether or not he should get it back now that he had left the order.

Whatever the case may be Dooku seemed to be intent on taking this separatist group and forming his own empire, a rather un-Jedi trait. Amidala suspected that Dooku may have been another disciple of Palpatine as she doubt Palpatine put much credence in Darth Bane's Rule of Two as he had been raised amongst many other Sith on Naboo.

The separatist movement soon gained a fair bit of momentum as they conquered several backwater planets and others left the Republic to join their cause. The Republic itself was unable to defend these planets as it did not have much in the way of an army.

Cordé, Saché, Rabé and Yané all eventually faced their Sith Trials and thanks to Amidala's tutelage they all passed. Cordé became Darth Bitva, Saché became Darth Vista, Rabé became Darth Kiire and Yané became Darth Thanatos.

With the threat of the separatists Naboo chose to improve their Military. While they had starfighters as part of the captured droid army, Naboo chose to build an improvement of the N-1 fighter called the N-1T which Cordé helped design and test. Cordé was rewarded for her success with a posting as a General in the Royal Starfighter Defense Force and quickly became the head of the Defense Force.

Rabé proved to be highly skilled at droid programming and she was able to make major upgrades to the Battle Droids battle program and with Cordé's assistance she also improved the capabilities of the droid starfighters, although they were not as good as the N-1Ts.

Saché founded the Naboo Intelligence Network, where she was able to use her gift of foresight to help discern which intelligence was true and which should be acted upon. She brought in other Sith with similar talents as well as finding and recruiting Force Sensitives from amongst the non-Sith Naboo, for her organization. She trained operatives and soon her spy network spanned the galaxy. While the Bothan Spynet was larger, the Naboo Intelligence Network was far more accurate with the intelligence they provided.

Yané meanwhile disappeared, at least from the public eye. Amidala had all traces of her existence erased, and family proved to be no issue as Yané had killed her parents as the completion of her Sith Trials. As her skills developed Amidala found that Yané was skilled at masking her presence and utilizing illusions. Amidala had drilled her in all forms of combat and weaponry having her gain mastery with blasters, vibroblades, electrostaffs and grenades as well as unarmed combat turning Yané into the perfect assassin, and that is what Amidala used her for. However she never sent Yané after Anakin or any Jedi, she didn't want to risk the exposure of a Sith Assassin and she also didn't believe that Yané would be able to defeat a Jedi, particularly one as powerful as Anakin. Because as skilled as Yané was, she was not extremely powerful in the force, she probably didn't meet the Jedi's stringent qualifications to be accepted for training. But Yané was extremely valuable to Amidala to eliminate potential rivals in the Senate and anyone else who got in her way, provided they weren't a Jedi.

Chancellor Valorum had served out his term as Chancellor and vote came for a new Chancellor to be selected. Amidala's name was put forth as a candidate and she accepted running on the platform that she would stem the tide of planets leaving the Republic and stop this separatist movement as it would only fragment the galaxy. Her only major opponent was Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan who wanted to negotiate a peace with the separatists. In the end Amidala won and became the new Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. Eirtaé once again became the Senator for Naboo.

Amidala didn't view Organa as much of a threat to her Chancellorship, outwardly the two of them had similar views outside of their opinions on how to deal with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. However Valorum could have proven to be a nuisance so Amidala had him meet a mysterious death courteous of Darth Thanatos.

Under Amidala's leadership the Republic saw many systems build themselves substantial defense forces against potential attack from the separatists, but a lot more systems were not able to defend themselves and CIS continued to attack Republic Systems as they had no fear of reprisal.

The Republic needed an army to combat this problem, and they also needed to admit that this was war, something the Senators in the Senate were reluctant to do regardless of its necessity. But circumstances would soon occur that would force the Senate to change its position…

Slightly shorter chapter. This is just a sort of fill in of the fallout from the Battle of Naboo as we jump ahead about 10 years. So will this lead to a clone war? You'll find out. Please Read and Review.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Amidala was in the office that was granted her as the Supreme Chancellor of the public. She'd just dealt with several exhausting visitors, largely deposed leaders of planets who had fled when their planets were invaded by the Confederacy of Independent Systems but there had been a Senator trying to petition that a bill to settle some trade dispute between to mid-rim systems be allowed, despite Amidala's decree that no trade bills would be allowed until the Separatist problem was dealt with.

Her secretary and latest apprentice Dormé informed her that she had one more visitor. Amidala suspected she knew who it was, and she wasn't surprised at all when Darth Allogi, better known to the Republic as Senator Eirtaé, entered her office. While Amidala was by far the most popular politician on Coruscant, Eirtaé was definitely the media darling.

While Amidala was most definitely considered attractive, Eirtaé had been called the personification of human beauty by the Coruscant media; and it was a title that she relished in and played up. Eirtaé was dressed in a flowing but still very revealing yellow dress of a design currently very popular here on Coruscant, that showed off all of her ample curves. Her long blonde hair was worn loose cascading down in gentle waves just past her shoulders. She wore almost no make-up save for some blue eye-shadow which just accentuated her blue eyes. Were Eirtaé not so attractive it was very likely that the citizens of Naboo would have demanded her resignation for not wearing traditional Naboo attire.

Amidala often felt slightly jealous around Eirtaé. Eirtaé had been blessed with the fortune of being considered undeniably beautiful by every male she met, and she used her beauty to her advantage. It was perhaps the one advantage Eirtaé had over Amidala. But that was part of why the two remained very close, Amidala needed someone to push her to strive to be better and that someone was Eirtaé.

Eirtaé casually sauntered over to Amidala's desk and plopped herself down on one of the overstuffed chairs in front of it, sitting in a most seductive manner.

"You know if any of those media hounds were here they might think you're trying to seduce me Eirtaé," Amidala commented. "You're lucky we're alone. I had a reporter here not fifteen minutes ago."

"Well we're alone, and I'd prefer you call me Darth Allogi," Eirtaé replied.

Amidala had resigned her spot on the Sith Council as her position as Supreme Chancellor meant she would rarely be able to attend council meetings back at Dee'ja Peak on Naboo. As such in the technical hierarchy of the Sith, she and Eirtaé were now on the same level and that meant that Eirtaé was allowed to say that.

"Well are you here on Sith business or Political business?" Amidala inquired.

"Both actually," Eirtaé answered.

"Oh and what business would be both?" Amidala asked.

"Why, I have a little idea on how to deal with this whole separatist issue that you might like," Eirtaé responded.

"Then spit it out," Amidala said. "I'm a busy woman. I don't have time for games."

"You need to relax a little," Eirtaé said. "I got this idea from a comment from Obi-Wan's Padawan."

"And what is it?" Amidala demanded starting to lose her patience.

"Well Anakin commented on how the Jedi weren't doing very much to stop the Separatists," Eirtaé answered. "So what if somehow it was to get into the media that the Jedi weren't doing their jobs as guardians of peace in the galaxy?"

"And who else to let that question out than the media's favourite Senator," Amidala finished.

"Rather ingenious, isn't it?" Eirtaé asked with a smile.

Amidala reclined in her own chair pressing her fingers together and smiled as well.

"It is an excellent idea," Amidala agreed. "But you shouldn't be the one leading this crusade against the Jedi."

"Oh I'm sure I could convince any number of other Senators to take up the cause," Eirtaé said with a sly smirk as she added. "Perhaps I could even cause a few Jedi to voice dissent against their order."

"Hmm, a Jedi Civil War," Amidala mused. "I do so love the sound of that. Of course that is easier said than done."

"Aren't all things?" Eirtaé responded.

"Well it was lovely to see you Senator," Amidala said. "I believe we both have things we must attend to."

"Indeed," Eirtaé agree as she got up to leave, her dress twirling about as she turned. "I have so many people just fighting with each other for my time."

Amidala saw Eirtaé out of her office and then sat back down at her desk.

"Did she seem almost too cheerful to you?" Amidala asked.

Yané dropped the Force Illusion that had hidden her and stepped out of the shadows.

"She always seems too cheerful to me," Yané replied sullenly.

Amidala's personal assassin had seen a great deal of death in her young life, and so she was always cold and seemingly unhappy, save for whenever she killed someone. Amidala thought it a little sad as Yané had grown up to be a rather beautiful young woman. She had grown to be statuesque in stature and the intense fitness regimen she kept herself on had ensured she had a taut and fit body. Looking at her it would be easier to mistake Yané for a HoloVid actress than for an assassin.

"She's definitely up to something," Amidala said. "I want you to keep an eye on her. Do not take action without my permission, just watch."

"Yes Master," Yané said with a bow before vanishing before Amidala's eyes with a Force Illusion.

Even though Yané was no longer Amidala's apprentice, she still called Amidala her Master. Somewhere along the line the rebellious streak that had made her the handmaiden that Amidala often called the 'Petulant Brat' had just vanished. Amidala had wondered if perhaps what had happened is Yané had become addicted to killing and had decided that serving Amidala was as good a way as any to ensure she continually got her fix. Amidala had no way of knowing though as Yané never wanted to talk about herself and could, quite literally, just vanish mid-conversation.

But Amidala did not question Yané's loyalty. Yané was infallibly loyal. The only other Sith whose loyalty to her Amidala didn't ever question was Sabé who remained her loyal bodyguard and double.

Amidala was getting ready to leave her office when Dormé informed her that she had an unscheduled visitor.

"Who is it?" Amidala asked, slightly irritated.

"Jedi Anakin Skywalker," Dormé replied.

This was something interesting and unexpected. Amidala had no idea what the young Jedi was doing here. Her irritation quickly vanished to be replaced by curiosity. She did wish to talk with him but she had other places to go, she headed out into the reception area to meet him.

"Jedi Skywalker," Amidala greeted him. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Uh, it's just Padawan Skywalker," Anakin said. "I'm not a full knight yet."

"Someone as strong and as talented as you is not yet a knight?" Amidala asked in false surprise.

"Master Obi-Wan says I follow my emotions too often," Anakin said.

"Oh and does Master Obi-Wan never follow his emotions?" Amidala asked.

"Well, I don't know, I've never seen him make an emotional decision." Anakin replied.

"Perhaps that's because he knows that you are watching him," Amidala replied. "But I digress, I have places to go but if you would walk with me we can still talk."

"Of course Chancellor," Anakin replied with a respectful nodded.

She left her office heading for the speeder bay, she had to attend the banquet of Garm Bel Iblis the Senator for Corellia. Amidala didn't care for Bel Iblis much, but she intended to use the banquet to scout of potential Corellian replacements who would be more to her liking.

"So what is that troubles you so much that you seek out the Supreme Chancellor?" Amidala asked as she walked quickly.

Anakin was a head taller than her and easily kept up with his own long strides.

"It's this war, I think that we as Jedi should be doing something but we're not." Anakin said. "Billions of people are getting hurt and killed because of the separatists and us Jedi are doing nothing about it."

Amidala was pleased to be hearing this, but also a little worried. She didn't want Skywalker to become the leader of a faction of Jedi.

"I understand how you feel," Amidala said empathetically. "I have been unable to get the Senate to act to do anything to assist the planets unable to defend themselves for months now. It is very frustrating to see all those people being hurt."

In truth Amidala could not have cared less about the billions of people being killed by the Separatists actions. In fact she didn't really care about the majority of the planets that the Separatists had invaded, they were mostly just insignificant backwater planets taken by the Separatists as a show of power.

"I know, but we're supposed to be the guardians of peace. We're supposed to protect people. How do we protect people by doing nothing?" Anakin complained.

"How does your Master feel about the situation?" Amidala asked.

"He believes we should respect the council's decision." Anakin replied.

"Well it is not my place to question the Jedi's decisions," Amidala said, measuring her words carefully. "We don't know much about the Jedi and their history on my planet as there has never been a recorded Jedi being from Naboo since we joined the Republic. And over the years we've never given the Jedi much reason to visit or planet either. In fact when your master and Qui-Gon came to Naboo they were the first Jedi to visit there in over one hundred years."

"But you know about the Jedi now though, you have been here on Coruscant for quite a while," Anakin said.

"Yes, but still I don't have a lot of time for history," Amidala said.

"Still what do you think the Jedi should be doing?" Anakin asked.

By now they had reached a turbolift which would take them up to the speeder bay. Amidala turned to face Anakin.

"I believe that they should be fighting the unrest that plagues our galaxy," Amidala said. "Count Dooku who leads this Confederacy of Independent Systems used to be a Jedi, did he not? His actions do not seem very Jedi-like and I am surprised they don't stop him."

The turbolift arrived and Amidala stepped in, Anakin remained behind.

"Thank you Chancellor," Anakin said. "You've given me a lot to think about."

"You're welcome," Amidala replied.

As Amidala rode the turbolift up she wondered to herself if perhaps she should have killed Anakin then and there. She could have made it look like any number of things, but instead she had passed up the chance. She had thought for a moment that she might be able to make the chosen one who would bring balance to the Force, instead bring chaos and cause turmoil by having him be a catalyst for a Jedi Civil War. She chastised herself for her pride and promised herself not to pass up the opportunity if she should have it again.

Garm Bel Iblis banquet was a rather tiresome affair, and unfortunately of all the other Corellian dignitaries who attended Amidala could not find one who she would have liked over Bel Iblis and that was saying something. She began to believe that the entire affair was just a waste of her time when she happened to be introduced to Onara Kuat, the Matriarch of the Kuat family the most powerful of the noble families of Kuat.

Onara proved to be a most interesting woman, she was here on Coruscant because there was a pending investigation into some possibly illegal bookkeeping being done by her Senator, Risi Lenoan, and there was the possibility she may have to name a replacement. However Amidala did not wish to discuss Senate business with Onara, she had enough of that for the day; instead Amidala asked Onara about Kuat.

Kuat had always been a world that interested Amidala, it was known for its massive shipyard as well as its anti-Jedi tendency. It was ruled by ten noble houses all of which had a matriarchal line of succession. Onara however did not have a daughter, she had but one son, and he also had but one son. Onara told Amidala how her house was facing being displaced as the most powerful by the other houses because of her lack of strong heirs. She was allowed to name the wife of any of her descendants the heir provided that they were deserving, but her daughter-in-law was, in Onara's own words, an empty-headed bimbo. That got Amidala to thinking.

"What is your culture status on arranged marriages?" Amidala inquired curiously.

"Well they happen fairly often, to cement and alliance between two houses although that only lasts for a generation before they go back to fighting with each other," Onara replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Well I have a six year old niece who just so happens to be in line to be Queen of Naboo," Amidala answered.

"And my grandson is six as well," Onara said catching on.

"How is marriage outside of Native Kuat looked upon?" Amidala asked.

"Usually it is frowned upon," Onara said. "But in this case, marrying a princess, well that is when it looked upon as favourable."

"Then I believe we could work something out," Amidala said. "A marriage between your grandson and my niece means your family would have the support of Naboo. Of course should you name my niece heir she would remain a princess but her younger sister would become next in line for the throne of Naboo, but that should not be a problem, right?"

"No, that seems perfectly acceptable," Onara agreed. "And what would Naboo get out of this."

"Oh perhaps some ships to help bolster our defense fleet, favourable trade deals," Amidala answered. "We can work those details out later, a party is not the place to discuss these things."

"I agree," Onara said grabbing two drinks from a passing Twi'lek waitress and handing one to Amidala. "Let us toast to our new alliance."

Amidala raised her glass and smiled and then took a sip. She had ensured that Pooja would succeed as Queen upon her mother's death without having to kill Ryoo. Not only that she had earned the support of Kuat should there be any action ever taken against Naboo, especially if the Jedi should ever discover that Naboo was ruled by Sith. Not only that but upon Onara's death Ryoo would become her successor, although that would be a ways down the road.

As Amidala looked around the banquet hall she decided that in the end this part had indeed been worth her time.

Okay so this is definitely my longest chapter so far. But I think you all can manage reading it and can appreciate why it was so long. Hope this opened up some new intrigue for you all as to what is going to happen. Please review, I will do my best to respond to all your comments the more detailed the review the better. Thank you in advance.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Citizens continue to protest outside the Jedi Temple, demanding that the Jedi take action against the Separatists who threaten the galaxy with civil war," the newscaster on the HoloNews said.

"Well this is just going perfectly," Eirtaé commented.

She and Amidala were in the Supreme Chancellor's apartment watching the latest news. Ever since Eirtaé had mentioned to several media outlets that it was disappointing that the Jedi, the supposed Guardians of Peace, were not taking any action to ensure peace, a large wave of resentment towards the Jedi had grown throughout the Republic. In less than a month it had reached the point where upset citizens began protesting outside the Jedi Temple.

"This is far better than I anticipated." Amidala agreed.

It was not mentioned in the new reports because the Jedi wouldn't speak directly to the media, but there were even rifts starting to occur within the Jedi. Many of the younger Jedi wished to help but the older Masters felt that it was not their place to take action. A few knights had left the order to take up the cause against the Separatists.

"So what is the next move?" Eirtaé asked.

"We need to declare war against the Separatists," Amidala replied. "With the Republic taking a stance the Jedi will be forced to side with us or they will suffer further internal conflict and will be further disgraced in the eyes of the public."

"Yes but how do you intend to get the Senate to declare war?" Eirtaé inquired.

"Why I'm going to use my favourite media darling Senator to suggest that it is a good idea," Amidala replied.

The smile quickly vanished from Eirtaé's face.

"Why do I need to get involved in starting this war?" Eirtaé asked.

"Because it's your duty," Amidala answered. "You're not a traitor are you?"

Eirtaé grumbled her reply of no.

"Good because I'd hate to see you start going into business for yourself, I mean you saw how that went for Palpatine," Amidala said in a sweet tone, but the threat was clear. "Now I believe you have something you need to go do."

Eirtaé took her leave.

"You should have threatened her more," Yané said emerging from hiding.

"It likely would have kept her in line in the short term," Amidala said. "But that resentment would make her even more likely to turn on me."

Yané just shrugged.

"Please sit down," Amidala said indicating the couch now vacated by Eirtaé.

Yané took the proffered seat, sitting down stiffly. Amidala was curious as to how Yané had become so socially awkward after being trained for years to be a handmaiden as a child, lessons that drilled her in social graces.

"Would you like a drink or anything?" Amidala offered.

"Just water," Yané replied.

Amidala motioned at her service droid who left to get the drink for Yané. Yané had been following Amidala's orders and following Eirtaé for the past month.

"So what have you learned from watching her?" Amidala asked.

"I have learned a great deal," Yané replied. "I don't know if you wish to hear all of it, unless you have a date tonight."

Amidala smiled, she knew that Yané was referring to Eirtaé's promiscuity and was glad that Yané still had some semblance of her sense of humour.

"Well tell me what I would like to hear," Amidala said.

"Well over the past month she has slept with fourteen different men," Yané recalled. "But she has done nothing that would suggest treason. If I may speak freely?"

"Of course you can," Amidala said.

"I think that Eirtaé is out for own pleasure." Yané said. "All she cares about is the lavish clothes she wears, the fancy food she eats, all the attention she gets from the media, and the multiple men that she sleeps with."

The droid returned with Yané's water. Amidala sat back in her seat considering.

"You're probably right," Amidala agreed. "But something will have to be done. She a Sith and a Senator, not a HoloVid star."

"If you want, I can discipline her," Yané offered as she sipped her water.

Amidala shook her head, "No, she has too high a media presence and that would attract the wrong kind of attention. I think if I let my sister, the Queen, know about this, she'll, begin an investigation into our planet's Senator and her behaviour. Eirtaé will straighten up because she doesn't want to be sent back to Naboo."

Yané looked slightly disappointed, "I trust in your wisdom with this."

"If you want you can kill Senator Garm Bel Iblis," Amidala offered. "He's been particularly vocal about us not getting involved in this Separatist issue."

Yané smiled, set her water down on the table and stood up.

"Thank you Master," she said bowing, before she vanished into thin air.

Amidala went to the next room to use the HoloNet. A few minutes later the hologram of her older sister appeared before her.

"Hello Sola, it's nice to see you," Amidala greeted.

"What is this about Padmé?" her sister asked.

"Please can't two sisters just have a friendly conversation?" Amidala responded.

"You're not the friendly conversation type sister," Sola replied.

"Well you do have me there," Amidala admitted. "Very well, I'm just letting you know that you may want to do an investigation into your Senator's behaviour."

"I was under the impression that Eirtaé was very popular there on Coruscant," Sola said.

"Oh she is," Amidala concurred. "But perhaps not in the way a Senator should be. She is popular because she walks about like a HoloVid star, not because of her work in the Senate, which is to say it is almost non-existent."

"So you want me to recall her back to Naboo?" Sola asked. "I don't have anybody to send as a replacement."

"Oh no," Amidala replied. "I just want you to investigate her behaviour. The threat of being recalled back to Naboo should be enough to keep her in line for the time being. Of course try to keep her, inappropriate relationship with a Jedi, out of the investigation if you can."

She watched as her the hologram of her older sister glared at her.

"I am the Queen of Naboo, I don't have to do what you say," Sola stated.

"You are only Queen because I abdicated and made you my successor," Amidala retorted. "You only have my old spot on the council for the same reason. You would never have reached your current position without riding my coattails, you owe for this, and you know I can take this all away from you. So you are going to do this or my niece will become the new Queen of Naboo. Besides it's not like I'm asking you to do much."

She could see the hologram of Sola visibly swallow in nervousness.

"Very well, you'll get your investigation," Sola agreed.

"Thank you; I don't know why you had to make this so difficult." Amidala said.

Sola ended the transmission without responding as her hologram vanished. Amidala smiled with amusement, she always enjoyed getting under her sister's skin. She went back out to the sitting area when she heard the entrance tone. She sent her protocol droid to answer the door. Moments later the droid returned with Saché in tow.

"What are you doing here Saché?" Amidala asked.

"I had a vision," Saché replied, "One that you need to hear about."

It had been quite some time since Saché had a significant vision.

"What is it about?" Amidala asked.

"Your goal, your plan to recreate the Sith Empire, to do it you need to go to Korriban." Saché replied.

Korriban was the ancient home world of the Sith, but it had long fallen into ruin. Only dangerous Sith beasts resided there anymore and it was so far out of the way that nobody bothered to travel there.

"Why Korriban?" Amidala asked.

"I don't know for certain," Saché replied. "My visions are never complete, they are always fragmented. But there is some hidden knowledge on Korriban that will help you in restoring the Sith to their past glory."

Amidala was torn, she knew that Saché's visions were often correct, although deciphering them could often prove difficult. The problem was there was no knowing how long this trip to Korriban could take, and she still had duties as the Supreme Chancellor.

"And you are certain that I must go?" Amidala asked.

"It was you who I saw in my vision," Saché replied. "Also Korriban is incredibly dangerous even to the Sith, only the most powerful of us would dare venture there."

Amidala nodded, "Thank you Saché, I need to speak with Sabé about what I'm going to do."

Saché nodded, "You're welcome, now I must return. We are still gathering information on Dooku, we may soon have a chance to kill him."

Amidala stopped her from leaving, "Don't kill him just yet. If the Jedi Order splits apart over this war issue than I believe several Jedi will try to go after him themselves, and if they should die doing so then that is fine, and if a Jedi should fall to the dark side killing him than that is even better."

"Very well, we shall keep an eye on Dooku but take no action," Saché replied before taking her leave once more.

Amidala then had her protocol droid call Sabé. About an hour later Sabé arrived.

"What is you need Master?" Sabé asked.

"Very soon I'm going to need to take a trip to Korriban," Amidala replied.

"Korriban, but that's dead world," Sabé said. "There is nothing there."

"Oh there is something there," Amidala said. "Saché had a vision and there is something to be found on Korriban and I must go. So while I am gone I need you to be me. You will be the Supreme Chancellor. You know the course of action I want. Avoid any personal meetings. I trust you with this and when I return I will bring back the glory of the Sith Empire."

Sabé nodded, "Do not worry Master, the Republic will still be here when you return."

"I will take the next few days to make sure you are up to speed on everything going on with the Senate," Amidala replied. "Then I will leave for Korriban. If anyone realizes that you are not me, do not tell them where I have gone. If I wish for them to know they will know already."

Sabé nodded in acknowledgement and then Amidala excused her. She had preparations to make, she needed to secure a ship for starters and supplies and to be discreet about it. She also wanted to take Yané with her as well and perhaps a few other Sith, there was no telling how dangerous the creatures on Korriban had become. Amidala sighed and sat down on the couch contemplating the perilous during ahead of her.

Okay so this was a slightly shorter chapter, but this is where things deviate very heavily from the movies. And I know the question you all are asking is "What is Amidala going to find of Korriban?" Well that's what the next chapter is for.

Once again thanks for all the reviews, and all the favourites.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Amidala arrived on Naboo in secret. Before she had left Coruscant she had gone over every detail she could think of with Sabé to ensure Sabé had the best chance possible of not being discovered. Impersonating Amidala would not be problem, Sabé had been doing that for over a decade; it was the little bits of information that would be an issue. Amidala couldn't help but be worried about what may happen if Sabé were discovered. But she couldn't worry about that now; she had her own mission, one given to her by the force.

She sat in the co-pilot seat beside Yané of an old YT-1300 freighter called the _Prized Jewel_, although the beat up freighter was anything but. Yané had killed the three Rodian crew members who had owned the vehicle and they had used it to get off of Coruscant unnoticed. This model had the cockpit mounted on starboard side which Amidala found a little strange as they flew through space with rest of the ship to her left.

The ships were known for being highly customizable but this one appeared to have had very little aftermarket components added. About the only thing changed on this one appeared to be its sensor array. Amidala had briefly considered taking a ship from Naboo but the fact that there were quite possibly a million of these YT-1300 freighters flying around that galaxy meant that it would be better to maintain anonymity. However the ship was going to needs some modifications before they left for Korriban.

Yané landed the ship in the Royal Hanger on the outskirts of Theed. The hanger itself was largely empty, only a few starfighters occupied it at the moment. As they disembarked from the vehicle they were met by Amidala's sister Queen Sola and General Cordé.

Sola was wearing one of the traditional outfits of the Queen of Naboo, despite Amidala decreeing that it was only necessary to do so on holidays and for other special ceremonies before she abdicated. She had her hair in one of the most complex hairstyles, which Amidala remembered absolutely detesting because it had taken forever to style.

Cordé on the other hand was dressed in the standard parade uniform of a General in the Royal Naboo Navy which consisted of a dark blue leather jacket with matching pants and a brimmed cap. Her rank and the insignia of the Navy were on the lapels of her jacket with the insignia again on the hat just above the brim at the front. Cordé's hair was tied back in a long braid and Amidala could see that Cordé had dyed her brown hair an auburn colour.

"Your majesty," Amidala said bowing as reached the bottom of the ship's ramp.

"Oh stand up," Sola said. "We both know you don't mean it."

Amidala straightened up and grinned at her elder sister.

"Good to see you as well," Amidala said.

"Just what are you doing here?" Sola demanded.

"I'm just stopping here to refit my ship before leaving again, don't worry I'm not here to remove you from the throne," Amidala replied.

"That ship doesn't belong to you," Sola said.

"Well technically it is still registered as belonging to some Rodians, but I don't think they'll be missing it." Amidala said.

They had come out of hyperspace near Naboo's sun, and ejected the corpses from the airlock before making the small jump to get closer to Naboo.

"Of course," Sola said.

Amidala was beginning to regret letting her sister become Queen. Perhaps she should have named either of her nieces Queen and let someone else serve as Regent till they were of age. Oh well it was too late to dwell on that.

"All I need to know is if you will refit my ship for me?" Amidala asked. "It is a small request. And it would not look well on you to deny a mission that could help establish the Sith Empire once more."

Sola frowned, "Very well, you can have whatever you need."

Sola may not have been particularly powerful in the force, but she was not stupid. She knew that denying Amidala would have turned the Sith Council against her.

"So what does this ship need?" Cordé asked.

"I'll leave that up to you," Amidala replied. "You're the one with the knowledge of ships."

"I'll have my team look it over and we should have it up and ready in a day, two at the most." Cordé replied.

"That will be fine, I will need to travel to Dee'ja Peak in the meantime to speak with the rest of the council." Amidala said.

"I'll arrange to have transport for you," Sola offered.

"We should be fine with just a speeder," Amidala said. "I would like to see my nieces before I go."

"I don't think you should see them," Sola said firmly.

Amidala finally realized what it was that was making her sister so antagonistic.

"I understand you are upset that I arranged Ryoo's marriage without your consent," Amidala said. "But this is the duty of the royal family. Alliances must be secured and marriage is often one of the better ways of doing it."

"If you were a mother you would not give your child away so easily," Sola snapped.

"If I were a mother and still Queen, I would like to think that I would," Amidala retorted. "The Kuat have the largest shipyard in the galaxy and they will make valuable allies."

Sola glared at Amidala and Amidala could tell that Sola was thinking of grabbing the lightsaber hidden in the folds of her dress. Beside her Amidala could sense Yané tighten up preparing to spring into action. Amidala held her hand up in front of Yané.

"Come now, there is no need to fight," Amidala said. "I have been away for quite a while I'm sure my nieces will be happy to see me."

"Fine, but I am going with you to Dee'ja Peak," Sola said. "I am a member of the council and have the right to be there as well."

"Of course you do," Amidala said with a smile.

"Come with me," Sola said with a reluctant sigh. "Your nieces are having their lessons."

Sola led the way and Amidala followed behind with Yané taking up the rear. Cordé remained behind to instruct her engineers on what to do in refitting the freighter. Amidala's nieces Ryoo and Pooja were having their private lessons with two instructors. Amidala recognized Ryoo's teacher as Lufta Shif, the non-Sith wife of Horace Shif, better known as Lord Arctis. Despite not being a Sith, Lufta Shif was well-versed in Sith History and as such she was teaching it to young Ryoo. Amidala recalled learning a great deal from Lufta during her time as Queen.

Pooja was having a different lesson. Jev Kylantha, better known as Darth Carnage, was giving young Pooja lightsaber lesson. Carnage had ended up being a teacher after her had the misfortune of losing all the fingers on one hand in a lightsaber malfunction. He had his fingers replaced but his skill was never the same afterwards. However having been one of the best duellists before the accident he was more than qualified to pass on his knowledge and that was what he was doing with young Pooja. The little Sith girl was merciless beating away at a Gungan with her red training lightsaber. Amidala could help but smile as she watched her younger niece torture the Gungan who moaned in pain and begged to be killed.

"You have excellent technique for a four year old," Amidala commented.

Pooja turned around and smile appeared on her face as she saw her aunt, "But I'm five now Auntie Padmé!" she exclaimed.

"That you are," Amidala said. "Well go on finish your lesson."

Pooja turned and with a movement of her hand she used the force to break the Gungan's neck. The Gungan fell to the ground gurgled once and then lay still.

"All done," Pooja stated happily.

Amidala noticed a look of approval on Yané's face. Amidala had to admit that Pooja's skills for a five year old were incredibly impressive, she was perhaps even more advanced than Amidala had been at that age. Yané decided to take it upon herself to give Pooja a few pointers on how to more cleanly break a Gungan's neck so that they didn't gurgle after they died.

"So how goes her lessons," Amidala asked Darth Carnage in private.

"She is a fast learner, perhaps faster than you," Carnage replied. "It's almost at the point where I can't teach her without having her use an actual lightsaber against an armed opponent."

"So you're saying that to learn further she needs actual combat experience?" Amidala inquired.

Amidala nodded and turned her attention back towards her nieces. She had always intended to have Pooja become her apprentice one day, perhaps today was the day. She decided not to bring it up with Sola now, but to wait until they were with the rest of the Sith Council when it would be more difficult for Sola to refuse her. Technically Amidala had an apprentice already in Dormé, but she had left Dormé behind as Dormé was her secretary as well and it would make Sabé's deception seem more realistic. Sabé would be Dormé's master while Amidala was gone. Besides Amidala had multiple apprentices before when she had five handmaidens as Queen. Sola currently had five handmaidens but only one was her apprentice the rest were all Sith Acolytes, three others were low-level force users without the strength in the force to become full Sith, and the final one was Darth Panya, also known as Ellé who had briefly been a handmaiden under Amidala before she abdicated and had later passed her trials.

Ryoo soon finished her lesson on Sith History and began to regale her aunt with the tale of Markos Ragnos an ancient Sith Lord who had been half human and half of the ancient Sith'ari species who were now extinct and had been the originators of the Sith tradition. Ryoo, while not nearly as impressive with the force as her sister, showed the signs of becoming a very capable leader. Amidala had always held the belief that those who did not learn from history were doomed to repeat it, something she saw repeatedly throughout Sith history, and it seemed Ryoo was the same. Ryoo told Amidala about how the Sith seemed to have a bad habit of turning on one another. Amidala explained to her niece about how it was the constant quest for more power that caused the Sith to eventually turn on one another.

"Well I'm going to change that," Ryoo declared.

"Not it I can change it first," Amidala responded with a smile.

"And just how do you intend to do that?" Sola asked.

"I don't know yet," Amidala replied. "But believe me I will."

Amidala felt that she had done a good job teaching all of her apprentice so far the danger of infighting. Of her apprentices the only one she had any doubts about was Eirtaé, the rest all seemed to be content with their positions and in helping restore the Sith Empire rather than clambering for power.

"Shall we dine before we go to Dee'ja Peak then?" Sola inquired.

"Oh can I come?" Pooja asked.

"No, you have to stay here," Sola replied.

Pooja seemed ready to argue with her mother so Amidala quickly cut in.

"You know I am somewhat hungry," she said. "And it has been quite a while since I've had true Nubian food."

"Well then I'll have my chefs prepare us an excellent feast," Sola said.

They all sat down to a finely prepared meal of fruits and meats all native to Naboo. Amidala couldn't help but feel at ease eating traditional foods like her mother had prepared her when she was a child. She noticed that even Yané seemed to be enjoying herself, there was nothing like home cooking. She made sure she enjoyed every bite because she had no idea when she would back on Naboo again and she wanted to remember the experience.

Once they were done Sola left Pooja and Ryoo in the care of Darth Carnage and her handmaidens and then went with Amidala and Yané to the royal speeder bay. Amidala was surprised that Sola still had not changed out of the cumbersome robes of the Queen.

"Do you not wish to change?" Amidala asked.

"The robes of office serve as a symbol to be respected with the council," Sola replied.

Amidala understood the hidden meaning. The other Sith Lords on the council had little respect for Sola as she would never have been a Lord of the council had Amidala not made her Queen. Amidala almost felt sorry for her sister, but it was Sola's job to make them respect her not Amidala's.

They boarded a speeder and set off for Dee'ja Peak. They arrived at Dee'ja Peak and immediately went to the council building. The other members of the council were already there. Sola took her place in the council seat, and Amidala noticed that all the council members, save for Lord Arctis, seemed to look at Sola as though she did not belong there. Well perhaps she didn't but, Amidala would eventually take that place back or else one of her nieces would take it.

"Darth Amidala, it is a surprise to see you here, what with you being so busy with the current galactic affairs as Supreme Chancellor." Lord Marr said.

"The force has given me a mission more important than serving as Supreme Chancellor," Amidala responded.

"Oh and what could that be?" Lord Vilus asked.

"I need to travel to Korriban," Amidala replied. "There I will find the key to restoring us to power in the galaxy."

"Korriban is a dead world, there is nothing there to discover." Lady Jaga said.

"This is a vision from Darth Vista, her visions have never been wrong before I have no reason not to trust her on this," Amidala replied.

"If this is a vision from Darth Vista than I believe this it to be true as well," Lord Arctis said. "What do you desire of the council?"

"I look to take several Sith warriors with me," Amidala replied. "The planet is still inhabited by many creatures which are particularly dangerous to force users."

"How many do you wish to take?" Lord Marr asked.

"Three should be sufficient," Amidala replied.

"There should be no problem with that," Lord Vilus agreed, "As long as they are willing to go."

"I also wish to announce my intentions to take a new apprentice," Amidala stated.

That seemed to catch the entire council including Sola off-guard.

"Who do you intend to take as your new apprentice?" Lord Arctis asked.

"My niece, the Princess Pooja," Amidala replied.

Everybody turned towards Sola to see her reaction. Amidala was a little surprised to see Sola manage to control herself, she had half expected Sola to lash out with a blast of force lightning and the other half-expected her to just scream and yell.

"I think my daughter is too young to be an apprentice," Sola said calmly.

"I was an apprentice at her age," Amidala said. "And her own teacher has said that without in the field training there is little else she can be taught about using the force."

The council members all looked at Sola. Sola soon realized that Amidala had put her in a tight position, if she were to refuse she would lose almost all the respect she had on the council, they could even take her council spot away from her.

"Very well," Sola agreed reluctantly.

"Good, I'm sure she will learn a great deal on Korriban," Amidala said.

Amidala then took her leave and met back up with Yané outside the council chambers while Sola remained with the council.

"I take it that Sola was not pleased about you wanting to take Pooja as your apprentice," Yané stated.

"No, but she agreed all the same," Amidala said. "My sister may be a bit too emotional at times, but she is no fool. Besides she knows that Pooja will learn a great deal as my student."

"You are an excellent master," Yané said.

"Let us return to Theed," Amidala said. "I want to see what Cordé has done with our ship."

They found another speeder and took off for Theed.

Okay so the last chapter was a little short so I gave you a slightly longer one. Bet you thought it was going to be about Korriban right? Well not yet, but don't worry they should at least arrive there in the next chapter. So please review, I'll do my best to respond, but if you want a response you have to be signed in, I can't respond to guests. And I do try to crank out my chapters quickly so put the story on alert because there's usually a new one within the next day or two.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Amidala and Yané returned to Theed while Sola remained behind with the Sith Council. Amidala had two reasons to want to return to Theed quickly. First she wanted to see what progress Cordé and her engineers had made with the ship, as she was anxious to be off for Korriban as soon as possible, and second she wished to get to her new apprentice Pooja before Sola could interfere.

Pooja was practicing blocking stun bolts with her sister when Amidala and Yané found her. Both of them were pretty good, but Pooja was just a little bit better than her older sister. Amidala couldn't help but be reminded of herself and her sister when they were children and how she had always been better at almost everything than her sister despite being younger.

"Oh Auntie Padmé!" Pooja exclaimed upon seeing her aunt once again. "You're back!"

"I am, and I have good news," Amidala replied.

Pooja looked at her eagerly. Ryoo seemed to have an idea on what it was and just hung back saying nothing, keeping an even expression on her face. Amidala had to admire the brave front her eldest niece put on.

"You are my new apprentice," Amidala replied. "So from now on there is no more, Auntie Padmé. It's Master or Master Amidala, understand?"

Pooja nodded. "I understand Aun… I mean Master Amidala."

"Now run and get your things we're going to be leaving for Korriban soon," Amidala said.

Pooja ran off and Amidala motioned for Yané to follow her and make sure she didn't bring anything unnecessary. Amidala was left alone with Ryoo.

"How come I don't get to be your apprentice?" Ryoo asked solemnly.

Amidala got down to her knees so she could look at her niece directly.

"You're a Sith, right Ryoo?" Amidala asked.

Ryoo nodded.

"Well as a Sith we all have a duty to perform," Amidala said. "You're to be married to the grandson of the Onara Kuat the head of the house of Kuat. An alliance that will ensure that even should the Republic fall Naboo will remain safe. I'm leaving for Korriban, and Korriban is a very dangerous place. I can't be putting you in danger or the Kuat might back out of the alliance."

"But I don't want to get married," Ryoo protested.

"That's because you don't know the benefits of it yet," Amidala said. "Once you're married Onara is likely to make you her heir meaning that when she dies you will be the head of the most powerful noble house in Kuat. If you're smart you could eventually become the Queen, a position they haven't had for millennia."

"I can?" Ryoo asked.

Amidala nodded, "Yes but you will have to earn it. You'll have to learn to be devious, you'll have to learn how to kill people and make it look accidental and you'll have to learn how to get others to kill for you. And don't worry, you'll have your own master one day."

"But I want to be your apprentice," Ryoo said.

"I'm sorry, but as of right now that just can't happen," Amidala said. "But perhaps Darth Clades will take you on as an apprentice. I can always suggest the idea to her."

That seemed to put a bit of a smile on Ryoo's face. At this point Pooja returned with Yané behind her looking slightly exasperated.

"Yané won't let me take Mister Nass," Pooja whined.

"Who is Mister Nass?" Amidala asked.

"It's a decapitated Gungan head that's been preserved," Yané replied even she seemed a little startled.

"He's the first Gungan I ever killed, mommy had his head preserved for me," Pooja explained.

"You're not going to need it," Amidala replied.

"But I want it," Pooja whined.

Amidala batted Pooja across the face with a backhand slap which knocked her down.

"To be a good Sith, you need to learn to let go of frivolous things like severed heads," Amidala said. "Now you are going get up and you are going to follow Darth Thanatos and I to the hanger."

"Why do you call Yané, Darth Thanatos?" Pooja asked.

"Because that is the title she has earned," Amidala replied. "And you will call her that as well. And one day you will earn your own title."

Pooja just rubbed the bruise that was starting to form on her face.

"Let that serve as a reminder of what happens when you're disobedient," Amidala said.

Amidala then took Pooja by the hand and led her to the Royal Hanger, Yané following close behind. Cordé and her team of engineers were still in the hanger working on the ship.

"General Cordé," Amidala greeted as they approached the ship.

Cordé turned around slightly surprised to see them.

"Amidala, I wasn't expecting to see you back so soon," Cordé responded. "I trust everything went well with the council?"

"It all went fine," Amidala replied. "I'm looking for three Sith warriors to travel with me to Korriban, do you have any suggestions?"

"Well if it were possible I would accompany you myself," Cordé said. "But there are many capable Sith Warriors under my command that would serve you well."

"Pick the three that best follow command," Amidala said. "I don't want to be deal with dissent on this mission. I'm in charge everyone else follows."

Cordé nodded, "I'll have them sent here immediately."

Cordé then left to make the necessary calls. Amidala examined the ship and was pleasantly surprised to see Rabé had been brought in to help in upgrading the ship.

"Darth Bitva I wasn't expecting to see you here," Amidala said. "I thought your expertise was more in droid programming."

Rabé was dressed in a gray technician's uniform and she wore her dark brown hair in a pair of braids that were woven together in loops at the back.

"Well when I heard that Darth Amidala was on Naboo and in need of technical work on her ship I just had to come," Rabé replied with a grin. "Besides I may be excellent at programming but I know my way around a ship."

"So how goes progress on the ship?" Amidala asked.

"Oh quite well," Rabé answered. "We've upped the hyperdrive from a Class 2 to a Class 1. Improved the shields, added a second pair of laser cannons on the bottom as you can see. Replaced the sensor array with a better one and improved the sub-light engines. It's amazing how easy it is to upgrade these ships."

"So what else is there to do?" Amidala inquired.

"Well we were going to add a few perimeter defenses for when the ship is on the ground, drop down blaster cannons that operate off motion sensors or remote." Rabé replied. "That should only take another hour at the most."

"Good, I would like to leave as soon as possible," Amidala said.

"So I understand you are going to Korriban," Rabé commented.

"Yes, what of it?" Amidala responded.

"Well I have always been rather fascinated by ancient Sith technology," Rabé replied. "I was hoping I could accompany you. I might be able to find something I can use to improve our own ships or droids."

"As long as you are allowed to leave you are welcome to join us," Amidala replied.

"I'm head of my department," Rabé said. "I'll let my second in command know I'm leaving."

"Excellent, Cordé is also sending three Sith Warriors to accompany us," Amidala stated. "We shall depart when they get here or when the work is done, whichever comes first."

The two conditions happened almost at the same time. Rabé came off the ship to announce the repairs were done just as Cordé returned followed by three Sith Warriors all dressed in the uniform of the Royal Navy.

"This is Mia Zaprin, youngest daughter of house Zaprin," Cordé said introducing a short woman with red hair. "Also known as Darth Hera."

Darth Hera had sharp features to her face and cold dark green eyes. Amidala notice a long thin scar along the right side of her face that went from just below her ear all the way to her chin. There was likely an interesting story behind that scar.

The other two Sith Warriors were both men.

"This is Arran Flekk," Cordé said introducing the first one. "Also known as Darth Gale."

Flekk was not the name of any Sith Family that Amidala knew of and she was fairly well versed. It was likely that Darth Gale was born to common citizens and was recruited for his Force talent at a young age. He was a strongly built man, fairly tall with handsome features. He had blue eyes and blonde hair that was cut in the standard military crew cut.

"And lastly this is Lucos Hollis, of house Hollis," Cordé introduced the final Sith Warrior. "Also known as Darth Forte."

Darth Forte was a beast of a man. He was one of the tallest men Amidala had ever see and seemed to bulge with muscles underneath his uniform. Amidala wondered how he even fit in the cockpit of a star fighter, until she noticed the insignia on his uniform identified him as a shuttle pilot. He had square-shaped facial features and black hair cut in a crew cut similar to Darth Gale, but Darth Forte also had signs of stubble showing.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," Amidala said bowing her head slightly in acknowledgement. "As you all are aware we are travelling to Korriban. It will certainly be dangerous. The last reports we have is that the planet has a large population of Hssiss and Tuk'ata and there is a fairly good chance that a Terentatek exists on the planet. But we go because the key to restoring the Sith Empire exists there. As long as you follow my directions the Sith Empire will be restored. We do our duty, is that understood?"

There was a murmur of agreements and nods.

"Good then we depart immediately," Amidala said. "Get on the ship."

Rabé and the three Sith Warriors all got on the ship along with Yané but Amidala remained behind with Pooja. She had felt the irate presence of her sister approaching and decided it would be more prudent to speak with Sola before leaving.

"Pooja you should get on the ship," Amidala said firmly.

"I don't want to Auntie," Pooja said.

Amidala glared down at her apprentice, "I am no longer your aunt, I am your Master and you will listen to see," Amidala said her tone ice cold.

Amidala could feel the fear emanating off of Pooja, but her niece listened and scurried up the ramp on the ship. Amidala meanwhile waited at the bottom of the ramp for her sister. Sola rounded the corner and immediately tried to send Amidala flying with a powerful force push but Amidala was able to counter it, just barely. She was surprised at her sister's strength.

"You are not taking my daughter to Korriban with you," Sola said. "She is not ready."

"She is my apprentice now," Amidala said firmly. "I can take her wherever I like."

"She is my daughter and currently the second in line for the throne," Sola stated.

"Your daughter is a rare prodigy," Amidala said. "Her limits need to be tested and that will never happen here on Naboo."

"She can be tested when she is older," Sola argued.

"I understand that you are concerned for her safety," Amidala said. "Believe me, I do not want to see her harmed either. When Ryoo is married to Onara Kuat's grandson, she will be next in line to the throne and last of Naberrie line. I don't want to see my work in re-establishing the bloodline monarchs to go to waste."

Sola stared at her sister for several long moments, carefully considering Amidala's words.

"Very well," Sola finally relented. "Tell her I said to be safe."

Amidala nodded, "I will. Remember sister we must each do our duty to restore the Sith Empire."

Sola nodded, "I know, sometimes I just don't like what that duty entails."

"You could always re-marry and have more children," Amidala said. "I know the public always goes crazy over a new baby."

Sola actually smiled, "That is true and I have had many rather handsome men come asking for my hand in marriage."

"Just make sure you pick one that you can control," Amidala said. "You don't want him to start thinking he's the King and can run this planet, he will just be the Queen's Consort."

"Don't worry sister, I am no fool," Sola responded.

"Then I shall take my leave," Amidala said.

"Be safe sister, and may the force be with you," Sola said. "For the glory of the Sith."

"For the glory of the Sith," Amidala echoed.

Amidala boarded the _Prized Jewel_, the boarding ramp closing behind her. Darth Gale and Darth Hera were piloting the ship and Darth Forte took up most of the rest of the space in the cockpit he was so large so Amidala sat in the passenger hold with Yané, Rabé and Pooja. The ship lifted off and within minutes they were in orbit over Naboo and a few minutes after that they entered hyperspace on their way for Korriban. None of them knew just what exactly they were looking for, and what they would find.

So Rabé is back with Amidala meaning she's got two of her old handmaidens with her. Expect a bit more development of Darth Hera, Gale and Forte in the next chapter, they're not just there to be fodder for a Terentatek. Anyway I said Korriban would be in this chapter, well at least their arrival, which is basically there. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. To be honest I enjoy writing the interaction between Sola and Amidala, I actually borrow from arguments I have with my own sister. Anyway please review, and if you'd like a PM reply make sure you're signed in. I try to respond to all reviews that are more than just "Great Chapter" or the like.

*reposted with a few grammatical corrections.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The arrived at Korriban and it was somewhat depressing. Looking down at the planet it was hard to believe that this had been the Sith home world. The planet seemed to be nothing more than a giant red ball of dust. Large storms could be seen blowing rapidly across Korriban's skies. There was almost nothing attractive about the planet when seen from space, except for the luring pull of strong dark side forces that could be felt even as far out hear as in orbit over Korriban.

On board the _Prized Jewel_ all of them could feel. Most of them were nervous, anxious about what might await them down on the planet. Little Pooja was downright terrified but she didn't express it outwardly. But Amidala was excited, she knew that somewhere down there lay the key to restoring the Sith Empire. However the more she thought about it, the more Amidala decided that she didn't want to restore the Sith Empire. If the Sith Empire had been so great it would never have ended, no she intended to create a New Sith Empire.

Amidala went up to the crowded cockpit where a nervous Darth Hera and Darth Gale were trying to decide where to land.

"Dreshdae," Amidala interrupted their conversation. "We are going to land there."

"But that place has been in ruins for almost a thousand years," Gale commented.

"Yes, but that place has a particularly strong pull," Amidala replied. "I'm sure you and Darth Hera are capable of finding a landing zone."

Dreshdae had remained the only inhabited city on Korriban for a while until the last war between the Jedi and Sith a thousand years ago, many of the Sith that had fled to Naboo had been inhabitants of Dreshdae. As the _Prized Jewel_ descended towards the planet Dreshdae came into view. The abandoned city was surprisingly intact, the buildings were weather beaten by a thousand years of dust storms but otherwise looked fine.

Darth Hera brought the _Prized Jewel_ in for a low flyover of the town so they could examine it before landing. The streets were all clogged with dust which formed drifts that were likely two or three feet deep in some parts. A small pack of five Tuk'ata was wandering the streets but ran off when the ship flew overhead. Amidala could understand why the Sith who had fled from here a thousand years ago had chosen to settle on Naboo. Where Naboo was a lush green world, this place was nothing but red dust and hard living no matter where you went.

The Sith of old may have prided themselves on surviving and in fact thriving on desolate worlds like Korriban. But that was impractical and Amidala wasn't going to waste time trying to needlessly prove her power by having her people settle planets nobody else would want to nor could live on.

Hera found an old docking bay that was relatively clear of dust compared to the other docking bays they had found, and settled the ship down for a landing. Amidala watched as the landing struts sank a good six inches into the dust.

Amidala went to the back where Rabé, Yané and Pooja were waiting.

"I don't like this place," Pooja said. "It's scary."

"You need to embrace that fear, use it." Amidala said. "Fear makes you more aware and it makes you more powerful in the force."

Pooja nodded and scrunched up her face. Rabé had changed out of her technician's outfit into a more comfortable set of black Sith Robes. Yané meanwhile was putting on all of her assassin's gear as they had no idea what they would encounter although the Tuk'ata they had seen earlier were likely to return. Her gear consisted of a black bodysuit over which she wore black leather shoulder guards, a chest piece and wrist guards. She wore a belt which had a heavy blaster on her right hip and her lightsaber on the left. She also had a bandoleer which held three different sized vibroblades and a second bandoleer with five grenades. It all appeared rather cumbersome but Yané moved as though none of it was there.

Pooja was wearing the black apprentice robes that Amidala had given her and she carried her one of Amidala's extra shotos which was the same size as her training lightsaber.

"Be careful with that," Rabé warned Pooja. "That won't just bruise like your training blade that will cut things right off."

"I know Darth Bitva," Pooja said.

Darth Gale, Hera and Forte soon joined them at the boarding ramp. Gale and Hera each had a blaster rifle as well as their lightsabers and Darth Forte carried a massive blaster that normally would have taken two people to use but he was so large he could carry and use it himself without issue.

Once everybody was ready Amidala lowered the boarding ramp and they walked down the ramp. The Sith had returned to Korriban since leaving for the anonymity of Naboo a thousand years ago, but even those had been over a century ago. As far as Amidala knew they were the first Sith to return to Korriban since those last visitors over a century ago. But she couldn't help but wonder if Palpatine or any of the forbearers of the line of Darth Bane had come to Korriban. She assumed that at some point one of them must have, but how recently had that been? It didn't really matter she guessed.

They walked down the ramp their feet crunching into the thick layer of dust and leaving clear foot prints with every step.

"The ship is going to be filthy when we return," Darth Hera commented.

"Indeed, we will have to diligently clean the air filters we don't have many spares," Darth Gale agreed.

It was quite dirty, they had only travelled about fifty feet from the ship and they were all covered in fine red dust. Yet despite they arid look of the place, the air felt humid.

"The dark side makes the air feel, thick," Rabé commented. "Almost damp."

There was definitely something very strange about the way Korriban felt, the strong lure of the dark side that they had felt in space was different down here on the planet. It wasn't quite as appealing, it was like a blanket, but one that was far heavier and warmer than you wanted.

They continued on, keeping their senses open for an attack by the wolf-like Tuk'ata or perhaps by reptilian Hssiss which could perfectly camouflage themselves as well as Yané could as they seemed to just disappear.

"Where should we head for Master?" Darth Forte asked.

Amidala found his voice did not fit his size. When Forte spoke one would expect a deep voice that was gruff and raspy but his voice was surprisingly high-pitched and he spoke with a refined accent. Amidala concentrated on the Force trying to let it guide her. She knew that the Valley of the Sith Lords was near Dreshdae, and that about three thousand years ago the Sith had built an academy in the valley during the Jedi Civil War. Something was telling her that exploring those ruins was what they needed to do.

"We're going to head down into the Valley of the Sith Lords," Amidala replied. "Whatever we are looking for will be down there. Perhaps we can take shelter in the old Sith Academy."

That seemed to be a good a plan as any to the rest of them, not that they were about to question her anyway. So they set off through Dreshdae towards the Valley. They were nearing the single path that led down out of Dreshdae that led to ruins of the old Sith Academy which was situated at one end of the valley, when a pack of ten Tuk'ata descended upon them. They hadn't felt the beasts' presence in the force. They were somehow able to mask their presence and they almost caught them all off guard, save for Amidala who drew her lightsaber and beheaded the first Tuk'ata to reach them faster than the eye could see. Amidala then let out a force wave knocking the rest of the Tuk'ata back to give her companions time to draw their own weapons.

Yané was, not surprisingly, the first one to leap into action. She had drawn both her lightsaber and her heavy blaster and she opened fire with the blaster while leaping forward. The Tuk'ata she was shooting shrugged off her shots as they hit it in the shoulders. She adjusted her aim and put a bolt bright into the Tuk'ata's eye. The creature let out a pained howl slashed angrily knocking over another Tuk'ata. Yané closed on the creature firing her blaster repeatedly at its head while slashing at the other Tuk'ata with her lightsaber.

While her bold charge had killed two Tuk'ata there were still seven left and now Yané found herself surrounded. Darth Forte opened up with his massive blaster and while his accuracy wasn't perfect it was enough to drive the Tuk'ata away from Yané. One of the massive bolts hit a Tuk'ata in the side of the head, the blast burned half the Tuk'ata's head off and it fell on its side dead.

Darth Hera and Darth Gale both advanced firing their blaster rifles to keep the Tuk'ata back, but their hides seemed impervious to the blaster fire. By now Yané had recovered and she holstered her blaster while unsheathing a vibroblade which she flung at the nearest Tuk'ata. The blade struck perfectly right between the Tuk'ata's eyes and it let out a slight yelp before it fell to the ground.

Amidala and Rabé then leapt forward past the rest of them, their lightsabers activated. Amidala was like a human tornado as she slashed at the Tuk'ata with her two blades, dismembered limbs and heads from three Tuk'ata scattered all over the place. Rabé had put herself in what seemed like a bad position in between two Tuk'ata but she twirled her lightsaber with blazing speed and perfect precision and suddenly both Tuk'ata were without heads.

However nobody the final Tuk'ata bounded past Darth Gale and Hera leaping for Pooja, seemingly deciding that it was going to get some measure of revenge for its brethren if it was going to die. Pooja let out a terrified squeak but raised her hand and force shoved the Tuk'ata away. Gale and Hera quickly turned and activated their lightsabers and finished the beast off.

"You fools!" Amidala cried out angrily.

Hera and Gale turned around and were immediately struck down as Amidala used the force to slap them with a wild gesture of her arm.

"There was one Tuk'ata and you managed to let it get by you and it almost killed the princess," Amidala said.

"My deepest apologies Master Amidala," Darth Hera apologized as she prostrated herself on the ground. "Please don't kill us."

"Get up," Amidala snarled. "A true Sith wouldn't prostrate themselves and beg for their lives. They'd accept death with honour."

Darth Gale had risen to one knee, but he didn't get up any further.

"If you wish to kill us, do so," he said. "Otherwise we should get moving. It's likely that more Tuk'ata are going to come after us."

Amidala stared at him for a moment, "I don't care whether you live or die, it's up to the princess herself if she feels your negligence is worthy of death."

Both Darth Hera and Darth Gale were stunned and definitely nervous that their lives were in the hand of a little girl. All eyes were on Pooja, who wasn't sure what to do.

"I'm fine," Pooja said. "It wasn't their fault. When you and Rabé jumped in I thought that you would have killed the rest of the Tuk'ata, they probably thought the same."

Amidala was a little shocked and a little impressed that her niece had turned the blame back around on her own Master.

"Let's just get out of here, we can kill each other later," Rabé said.

They got out of Dreshdae and followed the path down towards the valley, the sun was slowly setting and the valley would be dark before it set complete as the high walls of the valley were already casting long shadows. They reached the ruins of the Sith Temple just as the Sun was disappearing behind the walls of the valley and they went inside to make shelter.

Fortunately there were no Tuk'ata in the ruins but there were a few Shyrack, but they were much easier to deal with than Tuk'ata. They cleared the ruins out as best they could. They wished to explore more, but Pooja was tired.

"We'll make a camp for the night and explore the ruins more in the morning." Amidala declared.

There wasn't any dissent about that order, so they made camp for the night, each taking a two hour watch for Tuk'ata or any other creatures, till they could all explore the ruins further in the morning.

This chapter took a little longer to go up than normal because I've been sidelined with a cold. Nothing serious but I just felt more comfortable lying in bed than sitting up and typing on the computer. Still not 100% as of writing this, but hopefully I'm better soon. Still there might be a bit longer gap with the next chapter, just letting you know. As always I appreciate your reviews, and I like hearing your opinions and ideas.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The days on Korriban were slightly longer than Coruscant and Naboo, and in this hemisphere it was currently winter, so the nights were long. Amidala took over the watch from Rabé. They had found a large number of books in the old academy likely from the time when Darth Bane had studied here. Most of the tomes contained useless lore so they burned them. They had taken up residence in the main hall of the academy as they hadn't had time to clear out the other rooms.

Amidala was reading through one of the tomes they had spared to see if there was anything worthwhile. Pooja lay beside her on an old mattress they had pulled from a half collapsed room, seemingly sound asleep. Amidala fumbled with the ancient Sith writing, she had learned it when she was younger but she hadn't practiced it in years so it was a bit of a struggle. Rabé was the most proficient amongst them as she had converted the ancient language into a coding language for all of Naboo's droids which made them almost impossible to reprogram by slicers unless they also knew the Sith language. Saché had taken Rabé's programming language and used it to program a great many droids to use as spies.

Amidala sighed as she was now about halfway through the book, it had been about the fallen Jedi Exar Kun who had become one of the most powerful Sith of all time, she had hoped it may contain some of his secrets, but instead it just contained a chronicling of his deeds written in Sith and from what Amidala could tell they were greatly exaggerated. She skimmed forward and found nothing of any relevance and cast the book into the fire.

"Not a good read?" Yané asked.

Amidala glanced beside her to see that Yané was still up. She didn't think her personal assassin ever slept anymore.

"It seemed like it was just a Sith novel to make the great Exar Kun seem like a deity, probably to interest young Sith," Amidala replied. "It was rather inaccurate."

"I don't think what you seek will be found in these books," Yané said.

"Neither do I," Amidala said. "But almost no ancient Sith artifacts remain here on Korriban, so perhaps what I will find will be some form of knowledge."

Yané shrugged. "It was Saché's vision which led us here; she would be the one who would have the best idea."

"Unfortunately Saché is busy running her Intelligence Network." Amidala said. "We just have to trust that the Force will guide us."

Yané gave no further comment. She was busy going through her vibroblades inspecting their edges and ensuring the vibration cells were charged. She had also found an old Sith bladed-weapon which was damaged and she was doing her best to try and repair it. It was some sort of throwing blade, but the edge was far too dull to be effective, so she was trying to hone the edge but whatever metal it was made of was difficult to hone.

Amidala opened another book but the writing in it was smeared, the book had been water damaged at some point and all the ink had run leaving the book complete illegible. Frustrated, Amidala cast the book into the fire. Sick of reading and wanting to relieve her anger slightly Amidala pulled out her lightsabers and began going through the basics of combat, slowly at first and then moving from stance to stance so quickly that it became a blur, an almost artistic dance as the twin red beams spun around her. She got so caught up in her practice that she was surprised when she heard Pooja's voice.

"That looks so pretty," Pooja commented sleepily.

Amidala deactivated both her lightsabers with a flourish and turned to face her niece who was sitting up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"How come you're up?" Amidala asked. "It's not going to be light out for several more hours."

"I can't sleep anymore," Pooja replied.

"Perhaps we should explore the ruins of the academy a little more then," Amidala said.

She then noticed that Darth Gale and Darth Hera were gone. They had hastily disguised the blankets they had been sleeping under to look like they were still sleeping. She woke Rabé who was annoyed at being aroused.

"Did you see Darth Gale and Darth Hera leave during your watch?" Amidala asked.

"No, they were asleep the whole time," Rabé replied.

Neither Yané nor Darth Forte had noticed they were gone either. Amidala didn't think they had wandered off and gotten themselves killed. Whatever they were they definitely valued their lives. Although unless they had a good explanation for deserting Amidala was going to kill them herself.

"We are going to find them," Amidala announced. "You may hurt them, you may cripple them but do not kill them. I want them to tell me just what they were thinking defying my orders and going off on their own."

Amidala caught a glimmer of disappointment on Yané's face over the no kill order, but Amidala didn't care. She wanted to interrogate them before they died.

Normally finding two Sith wouldn't have been difficult with the aid of the force, but on Korriban the dark side was so prevalent that it made the task impossible, it wasn't even possible to properly sense the people in the same room without a great deal of focus.

They searched the Academy first but found no sign of them, by now the sun was finally up and light was finally starting to pour into the valley. They made their way down where the tombs of ancient Sith lay. There were legends which stated that the ghosts of the ancient Sith who inhabited these tombs would sometimes appear before those that they considered worthy of carrying on the legacy of the Sith. Amidala wondered if one of these ancient Sith was what she was destined to find.

As they descended into the valley Amidala looked out and saw that there had to be dozens if not hundreds of tombs. Trying to search them all could take days and by then Darth Hera and Darth Gale could be long gone. Yané led the way with Amidala, Rabé and Pooja in the middle, while Darth Forte brought up the rear. Suddenly Yané held up her hand for the group to come to a stop. She knelt down to examine something.

"What is it?" Rabé asked coming up behind Yané to see for herself.

"Tracks," Yané replied. "They've been partially covered by the wind but they definitely came this way. There's something odd about them though, it's almost as if they were shuffling and not walking properly."

"Perhaps they were injured," Amidala suggested.

"Then why wouldn't they have turned back around?" Yané wondered. "It would be even more dangerous to come down here wounded. It doesn't make sense."

Amidala thought the same thing and she could tell that the others did as well, but nobody else had any idea on what was going on so they just continued on their way hoping that Yané would be able to follow the tracks to wherever it was that Darth Hera and Darth Gale went.

They followed the tracks for almost two hours travelling deep into the valley. It was clear that the tombs here were different from the ones they had seen closer to the end of the cave. There were subtle differences in the architecture and the carvings were less worn and seemed more intricate.

"These tombs seem a bit newer," Amidala commented.

"Yes but they're all well over three thousand years old," Rabé said.

They came to a stop outside one of the tombs as Yané halted the group.

"They went in here," Yané declared.

Amidala stretched out with the force, trying to see if she could detect Darth Gale and Darth Hera in the tomb but it was just a thick wall of darkside energy.

"There's no telling if they're still in there, or if anything is alive in there," Amidala said. "We need to move carefully."

Before they could go in the tomb though they were interrupted by Pooja.

"Auntie!" She shrieked.

Amidala whirled around; something must have startled Pooja quite badly for her to forget to call Amidala master. Pooja went scurrying behind Amidala as fast as she could. It didn't take Amidala or the others long to notice what had scared Pooja.

A huge bipedal lumbering hunched over creature was stomping towards them; it was a dark brown in colour and had two long arms that ended with vicious foot long claws and it had a gigantic mouth that was probably big enough to swallow Pooja whole; a row of spikes could be seen going down its back. Amidala couldn't tell if it actually had eyes or just some black spots where eyes should be. She could sense the creature reaching out and feeling them in the force. It was primitive but it meant it would be very difficult to hide from it.

"Terentatek!" Rabé shouted activating her lightsaber.

Yané, Amidala and Darth Forte all followed suit, activating their own weapons.

"Spread out, we all need to attack at once," Amidala said. "We need to take this thing down as quick as possible. Pooja hide."

They fanned out as the Terentatek approached and formed a half-circle around it. The creature paused momentarily. Amidala wasn't sure if it was deciding who the bigger threat was, or who would be the better meal. The Terentatek let out a low rumbling roar and then charged at Amidala. She let out a tiny smirk of satisfaction as she realized that the monster was able to determine she was the most powerful force user in the group.

She backed up slightly to give the others time to close in on the Terentatek from the sides before slashing at the Terentatek's arm as it reached for her. Her lightsaber cut into the Tarentatek's arm but the got stuck, surprising Amidala. She deactivated the blade to get her weapon free and then used the force to aid her as she did a big flip backwards away from the Terentatek as it swung at her with its other arm.

Both Yané and Rabé attempted to attack the Terentatek simultaneously but ran into the same problem Amidala had where their blades were barely able to penetrate into the Terentatek's thick hide. Darth Forte leapt over top of Rabé as she attacked the Terentatek and leapt onto the creature's massive head and attempted to drive his lightsaber into the Terentatek's skull but found himself unable.

"It's somehow become resistant to lightsabers," Yané noted as she clipped her lightsaber back to her belt and drew two of her vibroblades.

The Terentatek was whipping around in circles trying to get Darth Forte off of its back but he was holding on with all of his brute strength. Amidala closed in towards the Terentatek once again hoping to distract it as she blasted the creature with Force Lightning, right into its huge mouth. The creature was momentarily distracted as it once again tried to claw at Amidala but she deftly somersaulted out its reach. The distraction was enough for Yané to pass both of her vibroblades to Darth Forte. With a mighty swing he stabbed one blade into the Terentatek's head. The creature let out a scream that was much higher pitched than the roar it had unleashed earlier.

The Terentatek began thrashing around once again and this time Darth Forte was thrown off of its back landing roughly on the ground. Angered the Terentatek stomped towards Darth Forte and snatched him up in its claws. Yané jumped onto the monster's back and stabbed her third vibroblade into its head. It once again let out a scream but it held onto Forte and took a huge bite out of his eating his entire right arm and a sizeable portion of his body on that side.

Yané tossed something to Forte, who was somehow still alive and conscious despite the grievous wound. He gave her the slightest of nods and then stopped struggling as the Terentatek stuffed the rest of him into its mouth. Yané leapt off of the Terentatek and dove for cover. Rabé and Amidala did the same and moment later the Terentatek exploded in a rain of gore.

"He sacrificed himself for us," Rabé commented.

"He died with honour," Amidala said. "Killing a Terentatek is no small feat."

"What happened?" Pooja asked coming out from hiding. "Why did it explode?"

"Darth Forte let it eat him, along with the thermal detonator I gave him," Yané replied.

"Next time we should just throw a thermal detonator in its mouth from the get go," Rabé suggested.

"I only have two left," Yané replied. "Let's just hope we don't encounter any more Terentatek."

"I doubt a Terentatek could fit through the door in the temple anyway," Amidala said. "Now let's get moving, it's possible that Darth Hera and Darth Gale heard the commotion out here, or perhaps they are responsible for that beast being here."

They walked up the steps to the temple and went in, unsure of what they would find.

It's been a bit of time between chapters again I know. I've been busy catching up on work and other things from when I was sick, so I haven't had as much time to write as I would like. As always I appreciate your reviews. I like hearing your speculation on what you think lies ahead for Amidala and company, so let me hear it. Hopefully the time before the next chapter isn't long, although it is Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend so I will be pre-occupied. Thanks for reading.


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

The inside of the ancient Sith Tomb was dark. They all used glowrods for illumination, as they provided better light than their lightsabers.

"This was a lot of work for a dead person," Pooja commented.

Amidala was scanning the room for some sign to indicate just who's tomb they were in but found none.

"The ancient Sith honoured their dead," Amidala replied. "The more powerful they were the more honour they deserved."

"So whose tomb is this?" Pooja asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Amidala replied. "There's nothing to indicate that in here so far."

"If we're done with the history lesson we should get moving," Rabé said. "We need to find Darth Gale and Darth Hera."

Yané was crouched down on the ground. Even in the tomb there was a thin layer of sand and she was checking to see if there were still tracks.

"They're definitely further in the tomb," Yané proclaimed.

They continued on through the tomb. The entire way through Amidala looked around trying to get some sort of sense for the ancient Sith whose tomb this had been. But everywhere she could see the evidence of items that had been looted or destroyed by time. They continued through the tomb for almost an hour, they ended up going down dozens of corridors that ended in a dead end.

"Do you think perhaps they made it impossible to find the actual burial site in here?" Rabé asked.

"Maybe," Yané replied. "But I suspect it's some kind of a test."

"There's no guarantee that Darth Hera and Darth Gale are even at the burial site," Amidala said.

They search through the tomb went on. It seemed as though it was hopeless until they came to a massive stone door. It was closed but upon examination it had clearly been opened very recently. Amidala stretched out through the force and then almost instantly recoiled. Something extremely powerful and extremely dangerous was on the other side of the door. Very little in the galaxy frightened her but whatever was on the other side of this door left her scared.

"I'm scared," Pooja whimpered. "There's something scary in there."

Amidala regained her composure and glanced at Yané and Rabé. Both of them were unnerved by whatever was on the other side of the door, but they were ready to confront whatever it was with her.

Amidala searched for some way to open the door, and found a hidden button on the frame to the left of the door. The door slowly slid open, the sound of stone scraping against stone filling the room. The other side of the door was dark, it was hard to see anything but the echo of their footsteps let them know that the room was immense.

Suddenly without warning their glowrods shut off, leaving them in complete darkness. They all activated their lightsabers, even Pooja. But the light from their lightsabers barely let them see each other let alone anything within a foot of them.

"Those weapons won't help you anymore," a voice stated.

Amidala thought on that voice, it sounded familiar. It was a male's voice, but something about it seemed strangle, like it had a reverb. She then recognized that it was Darth Gale's voice, she was surprised that she didn't recognize it sooner, especially since that was who they were looking for.

"Is there some reason you are choosing to hide in the darkness here, Arran Flekk?" Amidala asked, putting emphasis on using Darth Gale's birth name.

She could hear him grunt in anger but she still wasn't entirely sure where he was in this dark room.

"You think you can goad me by using that name?" he asked. "I have become more than Arran Flekk ever was."

Now Amidala was a little confused. She had no idea what he was talking about. They continued to slowly move through the room, Amidala, Rabé and Yané keeping a circle around Pooja.

"If you have become more than just what are you now?" Amidala inquired.

All she got in response was a low chuckle that echoed through the room and soon turned into a maniacal laugh that then faded away. Just then Rabé's foot bumped into something. They looked down and saw the corpse of a woman. Yané knelt down to inspect in closer, the woman seemed as if she had all moisture drained from her body, but her clothing was very new and very familiar.

"It's Darth Hera," Yané whispered.

"She had her life drained out of her," Rabé commented softly.

"Flekk did it," Amidala stated quietly.

"Why don't you call him Darth Gale?" Pooja asked.

"He abandoned his duty and lost his right to that name," Amidala replied.

"Oh so you think you can take my name away? Well fine you can have it," Flekk called out. "A true Sith doesn't need to be named by another, they name themselves."

"Is there some reason you are hiding in the shadows Flekk?" Amidala asked. "Is it because even now you are afraid to face me?"

"I don't fear you," Flekk replied. "But you do have the numerical advantage."

"They will stand down if I tell them to," Amidala said.

"Oh no need for that," Flekk said.

Suddenly Yané, Rabé and Pooja all collapsed to the ground. Amidala checked on them, they were not dead only unconscious. Amidala wasn't sure just what had been done to them, but if it had indeed had been Flekk this was something far beyond what he should have been capable of.

"Okay, so now it's a fair fight, are you still going to hide in the shadows?" Amidala challenged.

Suddenly a pair of torches lit up on a wall. Then one by one more torches continued to light till the room was dimly lit. Amidala scanned the room searching for Flekk, she doubted that he could be as good at camouflaging himself with the force as Yané was. She noticed that at the far end of the room it was still incredibly dark like there was something there that was extinguishing any and all light that touched it. She wasn't sure what it was, but she was certain it was where Flekk was hiding.

"Come on out Flekk," Amidala challenged him.

Finally Flekk emerged from the shadows. When Amidala saw him it took all her willpower to keep herself calm. Before Flekk had been a tall man with short blonde hair and a tanned complexion. Now he was incredibly pale his hair had fallen out in clumps. His face seemed be rippling as his features changed around. Amidala wasn't sure what was going on at first but then she saw that his features had almost mirrored those of Darth Hera. The whole image of it all was incredibly disturbing to look at.

"Whatever you've gotten yourself into here, you can't control it," Amidala said. "I can see it on your face."

"This?" Flekk asked indicating his shifting features. "This will pass in time. It is a small price to pay for power."

"Whatever power you've gained will kill you in time," Amidala said. "The signs that your body can't contain it are visible."

Flekk lashed out at her with an immensely powerful force blast. Amidala was unable to hold her ground and she spun backwards several times before being able to steady herself. She calmed herself and walked back towards Flekk.

"You think that you're better than I am," Flekk growled at her. "But you're not. You limit yourself, you may have a great deal of natural power, but I'm stronger than you now."

Flekk hit her with a massive force blast again, but this time Amidala was prepared for it and she was able to hold her ground. Still the effort left her slightly dazed.

"What good is all this power to you? Even if you live the entire galaxy will find you repulsive, they'll avoid you." Amidala said.

Flekk was just about to try and strike her once again but he paused. That was the opening Amidala knew she needed and she activated her lightsabers and quickly closed the gap. Flekk barely had time to activate his own lightsaber and deflect her attack.

Amidala had the early advantage given that she fought with a two lightsaber style, which had Flekk on the defensive. However he soon regained his composure and he started moving faster than Amidala could handle. Amidala soon found herself desperately struggling to defend against Flekk. She force leapt backwards to try and give herself some momentary respite but Flekk refused to let up as he quickly closed the gap and attacked once again.

Amidala desperately tried to find some kind of advantage, but his form was flawless. It was far better than it should have been, she had seen Flekk practice his lightsaber combat with Darth Hera on the journey to Korriban and her form had been superior to his, it was almost as if….

"So how does Hera feel about you using her lightsaber skills?" Amidala asked.

Flekk paused momentarily and Amidala seized the moment to attack, but he soon recovered and once more she was on the defensive, but she knew that she had struck a nerve. Whatever technique Flekk had used on Hera he had done more than absorb just her life force and her force strength, he had also somehow gained her knowledge and Amidala suspected that some part of Darth Hera still existed in Flekk and that was why his face had been shifting earlier.

"Hera always was better than you," Amidala said. "I doubt she's pleased about you using her lightsaber skills."

Flekk had brief spasm and Amidala swung for a decapitation but Flekk was able to recover in time to block the attack. He then force shoved her back, creating separation. Amidala wasn't exactly sure what was going on but it looked like Flekk was having some sort of mental battle with himself as he dropped to his knees.

"What's the matter? Having _Second Thoughts_?" Amidala asked.

Flekk looked up at Amidala and his face seemed to painful morph into Darth Hera's.

"Kill me," Flekk said, but the voice coming out was Darth Hera's.

Amidala didn't hesitate. She stepped forward and with a swift single stroke, she sliced Flekk's head off. She watched as the face slowly smoothed back into Flekk's own features.

However Amidala was more curious in the shadowy area in the room. Her senses were telling her that this was a dark-side nexus. She stepped into the shadow and she was soon overwhelmed by the rush of dark-side energy flowing through her. She wanted to bathe in the power it promised but she knew she shouldn't. She had just seen what it had done to Flekk, that wasn't going to happen to her. Still as she stood there she could bring herself to do anything. She felt her sense expanding, her awareness becoming greater, her connection to the force becoming stronger.

But then Amidala started to feel the corrupting power of the nexus, and she hurriedly stepped back her breath rapid. She glanced over at Yané, Rabé and Pooja all still lying unconscious. She had just about given in to corrupting power. She wasn't sure if one of them might fall prey to the same fate that had taken Flekk. This nexus needed to be closed.

Amidala gathered her strength and began trying to use the force to close the nexus. It wasn't any technique she had been taught, it was just something she was doing on instinct. The effort left her feeling weary, but eventually she was able to close the nexus and the shadows disappeared from the room. Exhausted she fell to the ground beside the others and fell asleep.

Amidala woke up later to her niece shaking her awake.

"Master, Master, are you okay?" Pooja asked as Amidala slowly opened her eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine Pooja," Amidala said getting to her feet. "Just the battle with Flekk left me tired."

"How did you manage to defeat him?" Rabé asked.

"Dun Möch," Amidala replied. "He still had part of Darth Hera's consciousness inside him; I was able to distract him enough to let her temporarily gain control so I could kill him."

"I found something on him that might interest you," Yané said pulling something from the pocket of Flekk's tattered jacket.

Amidala looked at what Yané was holding up and was surprised to see an old Sith Holocron; however it looked as though it may have been damaged.

"Let me see it," Amidala said holding out her hand.

Yané handed the Holocron over to Amidala. Amidala reached out with the force and probed the Holocron hoping to get it to activate. Suddenly it flickered to life but what appeared was not an ancient Sith Lord, but rather some kind of ancient space station.

"What is that?" Pooja asked.

Amidala wasn't exactly sure, but she had a guess as to what it was and if she was right this could change everything.

"It's a technical readout for an ancient space station," Amidala replied. "I think this is the Star Forge."

Okay, I apologize for the time between chapters. My AC adapter for my laptop needed to be replaced and it took seeming forever for the new one to arrive. Anyway I doubt any of you saw that one coming. As always your comments and reviews are welcome and wanted. I will do my best to respond to all of them. The time on Korriban is done, so get ready for some interesting things to happen in the next chapter. Just what does Amidala plan to do with the Star Forge and just how much does she know about an ancient space station that was destroyed over three thousand years before she was born?


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